


The Guardian

by Zaltia



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demon Hunters, Alternate Universe- Fallen Angel, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-26
Packaged: 2018-03-05 03:10:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 32,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3103373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zaltia/pseuds/Zaltia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anna was good at two things: Eating Chocolate and killing demons. So when the alert came in, she thought nothing about it. She could handle demons. She could handle zombies. She could even handle saving the world. The only thing she couldn't handle was the beautiful angel that she swore to never see again. DemonHunter!Anna, Angel!Elsa and Elsanna Non-Incest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Unwelcomed Guests

Chapter 1: Uninvited Guests

Few people truly believe in demons before they see one with their bare eyes. You could say that you believe in them. Believe in a heaven and a hell. But I'd like to think that there's always that little voice in your head that insists angels and monsters aren't real. It's a lot easier to sleep believing that it's all myths and fairytales.

The first time Arendelle City learned to believe was 30 years ago.

It was sudden. One minute the city was bursting with life; lights sounds and alcohol mixing together under a perfectly starlit sky. The next all the lights were gone, the music was quiet, but I'm pretty sure everyone was still hammered. Now, blackouts weren't exactly rare, especially in a city as lively as Arendelle. Immense cold during July was much scarcer. First the cold-front rolled in, fog encroaching on the roads and buildings. Then the screaming. At first it was scared pedestrians, but it devolved into something more guttural. Something more feral, something plain wrong. The screaming evolved into shrieking, and panic began to break. From the depths of the fogs, unholy abominations scrambled out. They came in every size and shape imaginable, all of them with glowing eyes and bloodied claws. En masse they barreled down the streets, killing anything that they found. Street-level became a slaughterhouse.

Eventually the entirety of the North Mountain district had succumbed to the demonic onslaught. Any survivors had fled into the main district, most with demons hot on their tails. The borders seemed to be a lost cause as well. Conventional weapons did minimal damage and nobody was certain that anyone would make it out alive. It took a long bloody time, but eventually all the entrances in and out of North Mountain had been sealed off. All that remained was the main gate where the monsters stood watch. At the time, the people felt it was no longer a question of 'if' they were to be overrun, but when they would be overrun.

Then out of the sky came a bright flash of light, and a shooting star fell to earth. To this day, the officials in city hall have no idea what that that light was. All they know is that the shooting star hit directly in front of the gates, blinding everyone gathered around. The Frozen, as they had been nicknamed, were gathered in force on this particular day and they too seemed to be blinded by the radiance. When the light cleared beasts had already begun to flee. Lying in the crater from the explosion was a young woman. People try to remember the specifics, but they can only agree on a few things. First was her hair, a fiery strawberry blonde that draped over her shoulders. Second was her posture, the kind that one could liken to a wounded lion, or a scared dog. Lastly was her sword, a long sword of crimson where flames licked the air where it rested. The creatures hissed and howled at her as she slowly rose to her feet. Clothed in modest robes, the girl looked around at her new environment, holding the sword close to her as if it were her lifeblood. Blood was soon tested as the beasts charged forward at her, rabid and vicious like starving dogs. She only spared the crowd a quick glance before turning to the beasts and charging with her sword drawn high. And as she led the monsters away deeper, people began to release breaths they did not realize they were holding. They waited for a sign of life. They waited for a sign of a threat. But the gate had been silent, and such it had stayed.

For 30 years, the gate had stayed quiet. Demons occasionally reached out towards it, but soon demon hunters were trained; Individuals with all in the world to gain, and nothing to lose. They alone stood as the defense protecting the citizens of Arendelle from the beasts that lurked beyond. And for 30 years, there were no definitive sightings of the woman with fiery strawberry blonde hair, or the blade that licked fire. And for 30 years, she, like the threat of the Frozen and the demons fell into myth and legend that was only believed by children and those who saw it with their own eyes.

* * *

 

Abandoned papers and brimstone fluttered about me as I walked down the third abandoned street today. The buildings loomed over me, decayed and decrepit with the shadows of their former tenants. I think I saw the eyes flickering at me every so often, but I ignored them as I came to my destination.  _Wandering Oaken's Bar, Grill and Spa._  I smiled as I pushed open the door to the only friendly life in this neighborhood.

Oaken's shop was a homely place, run down in most areas but polished where it mattered. The walls were cracking and the ceiling was leaking, but the tables were all varnished and polished like they were new. Apart from the tables, there was a jukebox in the corner that only played three songs from the 90's on repeat for free. The entrance to the spa was in the back corner, a simple windowed door that was perpetually fogged over. I've used it maybe once and it was positively heaven, once I got used to Oaken's considerably large and energetic family. In the middle back of the restaurant was the bar, tended by none other than the owner himself. He was polishing a glass but looked up when the door jingled. Smiling he raised a hand and said, "Yoohoo. Welcome back Anna. The usual?"

Waving back I pulled out a stool and nodded. "Yep. Make it extra thick this time."

Chuckling he put down the glass and pulled out a mug. "I still cannot believe that you are the only person who would come to a bar in the North Mountain district and ask for hot chocolate. Have you ever considered that strange for a moment?"

I blew a strand of strawberry blonde hair out of my face and started taking my gloves off. "Hey, have you ever had your hot chocolate? Because if you did, you'd do the same." I smirked and rested my elbows on the counter. "And besides, you're the one who refuses to move back to normal civilization."

Oaken was turning over pots and pans looking for the cocoa powder. "Yes, well it is rather safe here," He said casually tossing about some cooking implement I couldn't recognize, "Except for when somebody brings uninvited guests."

I scoff and lean back on my stool. My overcoat sags on the ground as I put one of my boots on the counter. "Look, if you're talking about Kristoff, I told him not to summon anymore reindeer in here. And he paid for the table, mugs and your daughter's doll. So as far as I'm concerned I have done nothing wr-"

Crashing wood stopped me mid-sentence. The sound came from behind me and I could practically smell the scent of demon breath. I sigh and take my foot off the counter. "Right, these guys. Look it's not like I invite them, they just let themselves in. Tell ya what, how 'bout you give me a discount and I'll escort them out. Deal?"

Not looking up from the boiling kettle he nodded, "Please try to do it before the drink is done. It's only good while it's still hot."

I laughed and swiveled around in my chair. Standing in the entrance way were three figures, each hunched over with dead glowing eyes and drooling acidic spit. I smirked and put one of my feet under the bottom of the stool. They hissed at me, brandishing sharp claws and rotten fangs. I smiled and flipped the stool up, grabbing it with my right hand. "Well, come on then," I held my arms to the sides, "I ain't got all day, so let's dance!"

They howled and charged forward at me: One in front with its claws brandished towards me, the other two flanking him on the sides. Laughing I thrust the stool out, hitting the lead in the face with an uncomfortable flat wooden surface. It connected with a dull thud and the beast fell to the floor. I let my momentum carry me forward and fell with it, missing the two that flew where my shoulders used to be. I rolled onto my back and jumped up, stomping on the creep that was on the floor. His friends hissed at me and charged forward. I swung the barstool and clipped one in the side of the head, knocking it to the side. The other I trapped his face between the legs of the stool. I stepped on its feet and slammed the stool to the ground, and the creep's head followed. The body crumpled and fell to the ground, disintegrating into dust. "Alright, that's one down for sure." I muttered before howling erupted near my left ear.

I swept the stool up with my leg and held it to the side, barely catching talons in the seat. "You're paying for that." Oaken said in a voice far too calm for a man whose establishment was being assaulted by unholy creatures.

"I'll cover it!" I yell as I twist the stool, popping the monster's shoulder with an audible crack. I backhand it, and punch it repeatedly till it falls to the ground and then I stomp on its head. With a dying groan it disappeared into thin air as well.  _Heh, too easy._ I thought before the blades popped out of my chest.

Coughing I turned my head to look at the source. The first one that I had neglected to finish off was pinned against me with its claws pushing through my chest. I heaved a heavy sigh. "Look, seriously? This was a nice jacket." I said groaned because I just finished sewing this one back together last night. I reached to my hip and pulled out my baby. Light silver and blue steel, with a slight chrome touching on the grip. Her name was Frostbite and right now I pressed her to the forehead of the creep who was looking at me with the closest these things can get to surprise. I felt my mouth twitch into a smile as I held the trigger, "Yeah, I know."  _BANG_  "Surprised me too when I first found out."

With those three gone I put the chair back in its place and sat down. Oaken had already put the mug on the table on a small plate with a spoon delicately laid on the side. I smiled and took the mug in my hand. "Mm, this is exactly what I need after exerting myself." The liquid was thick and creamy, almost like hot syrup, as it poured down my throat. It was sweet, with the slight bitterness that made my skin prickle. The smell was just as strong as the taste, making me practically light headed. It took me a moment to notice the fingers snapping at me. "Yah?" I mumbled back intelligently.

"I was just checking to see if you were alright and that you weren't injured this time." Oaken said with a gentle smile, worry creeping in on the sides of his eyes.

I laughed and shook my head. "No way, I'm feeling better than ever. You just outdid yourself enough that I almost went into a chocolate coma for a minute. Seriously how do you manage to pull that off?" My phone buzzed in my pocket as I went for my second sip. Grumbling I pulled it out, and I outright groaned when I saw the caller ID.

I pressed the phone to my ear and I could practically hear his eyes rolling. "So, are you done with your chocolate break yet, or can we get back to work."

Mumbling to myself I took another long sip of the dark liquid. "You said I had an hour, so I'm making the best out of my one hour. You should know by now what happens when I drink."

"Yeah, you make everyone else uncomfortable while you make out with a cup of chocolate."

I huffed. "I do not make out with the beverage! I treat it like a lady, gently with my lips before I move my ton-"

"Okay, no. I do not need to know how that sentence ends. How about I just give you the coordinates for the alert and we just call it a day?" I could already visualize him holding his hands up in defeat.

I sigh and take another long draught, finishing the rest of my snack. "What, you telling me that they've got an actual signal this time?"

"Yep," He said, voice going back to business mode without missing a beat, "We've got a high concentration of frozen in the Eastern District. It's by the old fashion mall, about a five minute ride on your bike."

I nod and clean out the rest of my cup. "Alright, I'll head over, any details?"

"It's definitely the same group that you've been tracking for the past few days. If anything I think it got bigger. They're moving with a purpose. Do you need back-up?"

I stood up from my counter and looked at Oaken. He waved me off and I mouthed 'thank you' at him before grabbing my gloves off the counter-top. "What's the highest ranking that you see?"

"They're all E rank from where I sit. Still, there's more than a hundred of them."

I smile as I step outside and slip my glove on fully. "Then don't worry about me. This is going to be fun."

* * *

 

The Eastern Wing was a freaking mosh pit. I had managed to get onto one of the higher parking structures overlooking the group. I pulled my bike over and looked over at the giant mass of undead bodies, all gathered together. What was weird wasn't the fact that there were so many of them, or the fact that they were filing into line. What was weird was that most of them were just standing there, staring at the sky. They were looking up, transfixed at a point that, frankly I didn't see anything interesting in. I sighed and pulled out my phone

"Hey, Krissy. Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"I'm behind a computer Anna, I can't see anything." Sometimes I hated my assistant.

"Okay, fine. Do you see the large group of zombies gathered in some kind of Undead Burning Man festival?"

"I see a large group of them. Are you sure they're not doing anything."

I groaned. "They look like they're stoned as hell."

"Technically, they're reanimated corpses, so any form of intoxication is both highly impossible, and a bit redundant."

"Are you going to say anything helpful today, or do I have to call your freaking reindeer?"

"Hey, leave Sven out of this. He's taking his nap right now. Anyway, alright I can't see anything here to explain what's going on. All I can say that this is definitely what you've been looking for. I suggest asking them directly."

Smiling I grabbed the handlebar of my bike. "Alrighty then, I'll call you later after the interrogation."

"Remember to dust yourself off when you're done." He said before hanging up the phone. Shoving it in my pocket I revved my bike and took off the roof, slamming into an unfortunate group of Frozen on my way down. I laughed and pulled out Marshmallow, Frostbite's bigger pure white magnum of a brother. I sped down the group mowing over anything in my way, and shooting everything that didn't fall over.

The monsters screamed and converged on me as fast they could. Standing on my bike I jumped off into the air, flipping over the wave before pulling Frostbite out. While I fell I shot down at the ground, vaporizing a small group of them before I landed. Landing feet first, hands on the ground I exhaled a long breath. The monsters around me were all eyeing me warily, some twitching and snarling, but all afraid to cross into my personal space. I laughed as I stood up, guns out to my sides. "You know, most people would say that one of us has an incredibly unfair advantage. I would agree. So if you want, I can give you all a five minute head start to ru-"

Suddenly all the monsters stopped in their tracks and looked at the sky. Above the clouds parted in a circle, revealing a bright glow, brighter than the sun I swear. I shielded my eyes as the light intensified. It started to narrow until it was about as large as a spotlight. Amidst the glow I could see a figure slowly descending from the heavens. The silhouette showed a woman with large wings protruding from her back. I say woman because the shadow left little to imagination. Long slender legs leading up to a set of hips that were all woman. I was about to gawk at the rest of her when I noticed my breath beginning to mist. As she touched the ground I cursed and dove towards my bike.  _Shit!_  I thought as a wave of cold spread out from her foot. It spread out, fractals of ice freezing anything in their path solid. I winced as I felt one of my arms frost over before I shook it off. The cold spread for only a moment or two longer. I peeked out from behind my bike to view the frozen carnage that occurred. Every single one of the Frozen were, well frozen I guess. Ice statues littered the field, various masks of fury, rage and confusion scattered about. In the center, still glowing of course, was the mysterious figure. I could make out some details better: like how long and slender her fingers were, the icy blue of her eyes, and the pointiness of her sword which was now drawn at me.

"Praepara, monstrum!" she bellowed, air chilling around the blade. Ice crystals started to form on the silver steel as she gripped the handle tighter. The icy blue eyes were all focused on me now. "In nomine dei Pereat!" she shouted, lunging at me with the sword.

 _Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck_ , I thought to myself as I barely dodged the first strike. The tip of the sword caught my arm and I could see a faint trickle of blood flow down my sleeve.  _Double fuck._  The wound started to ice over as well, numbing my dominant arm from elbow to wrist.  _All the fucks!_ I gasped as I bent out of the way of another strike. The momentum caused me to stagger, stepping back a few feet. She pressed onwards, unperturbed with a flurry of sword strikes. It was fast, agile and dangerous. I was caught in a blizzard, little bits of cold etching into my body, spreading the soreness out the longer I let it fester. I growled as she made a fast cut and almost lopped my arm off. "Okay, you have definitely had enough!" I shouted as I dodged the swing. She had put too much of her weight and found herself falling into it. I spun on my heel and delivered a swift kick to her stomach.

The wind left her with a whoosh as she struggled to hold onto the weapon and her balance. I couldn't just let this pass by, so I pressed forward. Strikes to her stomach and shoulders forced her back. She almost doubled over after a particularly hard strike. I pulled back, letting her stagger before semi-righting herself. She was half bent over, off-hand clutching at her stomach. Her dominant held out the blade, still shining with ice and pointed at my heart. Not a single bit of chill was lost in her eyes. With one last scream she thrust forward at me with all her might. It wasn't much though. All the stamina in her body was gone from taking those body blows. I sidestepped the blade and stepped in to her. Our faces, well my face and a shadowy one where you could only see the eyes, were practically touching as I locked my arm over her extended one. Twisting I slammed my palm into her shoulder and threw her to the ground. She fell and I stood over her. Reaching to my side I materialized Summerglow and pointed it directly at her face. Crimson blade stood inches away from porcelain skin. "Okay sweetheart, you have one sentence to explain why you almost carved me up like a turkey. It's July, and Thanksgiving is months from now." I glared at her as I let a small crackle of flame lick at her face. "So you better have a good explanation. And in my damn language, not fancy, dead Italian people talk."

No response. She just looked at me, eyes wide as saucers. The hood was starting to fall away and I could see a bit more of her features. First was the skin, pale and radiant as new fallen snow. Next was the mouth, cherry-colored lips fully agape with… shock? And then the eyes were in clear view, only obscured with the smallest of blonde ha-  _Oh God._ My lungs froze and my heart skipped a beat.  _Oh God, It… It can't be. No way, no it…_  At this point I expected that I had the same expression she did. I lowered the sword, stepping back to let her breathe. She stood, not making a move towards her sword. All I could do was steal glances at my bike and wish I was anywhere but here.  _This is some cruel prank._  I decided.  _Either that, or a chocolate based hallucination that Kristoff was warning me about._  It proved not to be, as she lowered her hood and turned off her glow. Standing there, wide eyed with an even wider grin, was my angel. The last person I saw before I was banished.  _Fuck_.

I recoiled a bit, moving to run to my bike before a pair of arms wrapped themselves around me. Her head was pressed against the rook of my neck, and I felt her body shake as the sobs ripped through her. "You're alive…" she muttered, reassuring herself, "After all this time, you're still alive…" I sighed and patted her back, ignoring my heart hammering against my chest.

"Yeah… It's me." I said, not being able to help my smile. "I can't even begin to say how much I missed you." She only shook harder and tried to strangle me with love. It was… surreal seeing her like this. Years ago, she had been my partner. Strong, strict, divine (I am so sorry), but above all things she was as cold as the blade she wielded, but thrice as beautiful. I smiled as I leaned into her, letting her familiar scent wash over me.

After what seemed like ages, she pulled away from me way. I was already missing the coolness of her touch. She looked at me with a smile. "I don't even know where… You've grown so tall."

I blushed and scuffed my boots on the ground. "It's fine, I mean you're still taller and beautifuller, er more beautiful um, yeah I'm just gonna shut up."

She giggled and covered her mouth with her hand. I almost tried telling her that it really didn't cover anything, but I couldn't bear to stop something that cute. "Thank you for the compliment. I'm glad to see some things never change."

I sighed and gave a sad smile. "Yeah, I guess."  _You have no idea_. "But not everything." I sighed a little and tugged at my coat. _Get a grip Anna, you're on the job._  "Call me Anna, btw"

At this my angel looked at me with a confused tilt. "Why? Regardless of your circumstances, I still can call you by your creation name A-"

"Nope!" I dove and clamped my hand over her mouth. "Do not, I repeat. Do. Not. Say your real name to anyone. You have no idea how dangerous that is. "

She looked at me confused before nodding in agreement. "Alright, then… Anna." She struggled with the name and I had to bite back a smile. "Then, you shall call me… Elsa."

I nod and gesture to my bike. "Alright then, Elsa."  _God, that name is sexy._  "Come on, I think I have a few questions that I need to ask."

She gave me another quizzical look and flared up her wings. "Would it not be easier to just fly?"

I hoped the pain didn't show on my face. Thankfully I was slightly turned away from her, so she didn't get to see the whole thing. Keeping my voice as level as I could, "I… think I prefer motorcycle. If you catch my drift."

Elsa looked at me before an expression of shock crossed her face. I waved it off immediately and she nodded back at me. "Alright, let me just clean up here first." She took a deep breath and brought her palms together. "Fragor" she muttered. Power flooded out from her voice, cascading in a shockwave around her. Everything was quiet, until the cracking began. Then all at once, all of ice shattered. From under me shards popped out and vanished before I could take proper notice. All of the statues did the same. I'm not sure if I was amazed at how strong she had gotten over the years, or if I was pissed off that she beat my single day kill count with one word. I think I was somewhere in between. I looked at her and our eyes met. She gave me a small smirk before sauntering off to the bike.

"Showoff." I grumbled, following behind her and jumping on the bike myself.


	2. Nice to Meet you

Chapter 2: Nice to Meet You

**Disclaimer: I don't own Frozen or it's characters.**

* * *

 

The ride back was quiet. The whole time there was nothing but the wind rushing past my face and the crunching of gravel beneath my wheels. Elsa didn't say anything, to my relief and slight disappointment. She just held her arms around my waist, squeezing every so often. I guess she was convincing herself that I was real, that I was here and that we were together again. I only hoped she didn't notice my heart bursting out of my chest, or how I shivered whenever she breathed past my ear.

* * *

 

I slid my back into the usual spot: halfway between a broken fare meter and an old unused pipeline. I looked up at the building. It had definitely seen better days. Maybe there was a time when the paint wasn't peeling, or the gargoyles had all their fingers, but nobody could remember it. It used to be an old tax office, until the local government relocated all their workers to the new business district and abandoned this one. Since then, nobody had given much thought to remodeling or even reselling the old girl. When I had come over, they were practically begging me to take it off their hands. I guess there was something about a gothic style building with gargoyles and black roof lining that really didn't scream well with the locals. Come to think of it, why did a tax office have gargoyles in the first place? Shrugging to myself I turned back to face my guest.

"So, here's the place. Is it everything you imagined it would be?"

She looked it up and down and hummed a bit to herself. "It is rather… quaint."

"Quaint?" I repeat, raising an eyebrow. "Quaint is what you call your grandmother's black santa collection. Come on, this is my home."

"Anna, we don't have grandmothers. And Saint Nicholas was of Greek descent, making him rather unlikely to be of African skin tone."

I was incredibly close to smacking my face into the motorcycle. "Have you always been this bad at metaphors, or is this something new for you?" She opened her mouth to respond but I pressed a finger to her soft delicate lips. "Don't answer that. That was a rhetorical question."  _Oh boy, she is going to have fun meeting Kristoff._

She smiled and gave me a slight squeeze. "It fits you."

I huffed and gave her my best incredulous look. "Really. Is it the gargoyles? I think they bring out my eyes."

She smiled and shook her head gently. "No, though they do compliment you well." She let go of my waist and stepped off my bike. I tried to pretend that I didn't feel empty where her arms used to be. "It just, looks rough. It looks rough, imposing and broken. It can come off as uninviting if you were not to know better."

I hopped off my bike and leaned on the handle. "Wow, I had no idea that's how you saw me. Is this the part where I say thank yo-"

"But it's safe." She said, not heeding my sarcasm. I felt the blush creeping on my cheeks as she looked towards me. "It has strong walls that tell me that I can be safe here. It looks rough because it has been through much, yet still stands tall. It is imposing because it needs to be to protect the people inside. And it looks broken because it has been through more than the other, but still remained standing tall and proud." She smiled at me and my blush turned into dark red. "Do you prefer that?"

I looked away, holding onto my bike handle. "It's been 30 years from where I stand. Things change."

She stepped up to me, putting her hand over my clenched one. "You're right. Then I suppose, I just have to find out more about the new you. Though, from where I stand," She looked me in the eyes and my face burned crimson, "I have a feeling that I would be right."

She let me go and I removed myself from my bike. "Heh, well let's hope you don't get too disappointed. Speaking of disappointments, keep your expectations low before you come in. I may have… neglected to clean up before I left this morning."

"I was not aware that you were the uncleanly type."

"Oh believe me, I haven't been clean in years." I smirked when she tilted her head in confusion. "Like I said, things change. Now, welcome to my home." I twisted the knob and gestured into the entryway. I had a 'quaint' little home, as Elsa would put it. The original entryway and waiting room had been combined with a sledgehammer, giving me a large living room area. There was a television in the corner that only played hockey, Spanish dramas and the news. Kristoff tried to teach me hockey, but I gave up pretty quickly and watched the other channels. And by that I mean the soap operas because anyone who watched the news to relax had to be incredibly bored or an incredibly boring person. So every day I'd sit down for a few hours and watch the adventures of Seniorita Juana and her illicit love affair with the archduke's mistress Elincia. Said plot and character dialogue and names may have been improvised during a fit of incredible boredom. At least I do the voices well according to Kristoff.

While the TV and the couch took up the bottom right corner, we kept the desk in the far back. It was a big office-type desk that clashed with the rest of the room. It had this incredibly professional look, if you overlooked the fact that the front right side of it was being propped up with outdated phonebooks. I found it on a job one day and lugged it back home. Regardless of what Kristoff insists, the table was already in that condition when I found it. Strapping it to my back while riding a motorcycle did nothing but air it out. It absolutely did not touch the pavement for a second during the ride home. On top of the desk was a pile of books and dvds. The books contained a bunch of things from various supernatural tomes, bestiaries, spellbooks (for Kristoff) and romance novels (for… Kristoff. Yeah). The dvds were a decent size of my personal collection. I had about every action movie, medieval knight movie and comedy that they sold in the county. And a copy of  _Titanic_  which makes me cry whenever I hear a tin whistle. Nestled on top of a pile was last night/this morning's pizza that still had a slice of pepperoni waiting for me.

Above the desk we had strung Christmas lights, because we decided that the room looked way cooler with a soft green and blue glow instead of an expensive normal ceiling light. The lights ran around the area of the room, giving us a nice backdrop that I'm sure clients appreciated.

On the left side of the room was a simple table next to a bookshelf. This is where the bulk of our books was kept. We had practically everything on every subject there.  _How to Treat Succubus Bites_? Check.  _One Thousand and One Ways to Treat a Frozen Limb_? Check.  _Snowman Building: The Complete Anthology_? Double check. We cashed in on most of these when they were on discount. After the first demon invasion people were swarming to find out about these now not mythical creatures. They sent hunters out to gather data. They wrote books. They made movies. It was a huge scare and I for one made a killing when it happened. Sadly as interest died out, so did the number of media on the subject. Wasn't too hard to make a living, but it still wasn't the same as the glory days, not that I was particularly well off back then either.

The only thing left in the room was the stairs which led to the old offices. There were about three of them, so Kristoff and I took one each and decided to use the other for 'guests'. Unfortunately our only guest is usually Sven, Kristoff's ghost reindeer, but I'll get to that later. Thankfully he doesn't stink the place up like a real reindeer does, but it's still fairly unused. My heart fluttered when I realized that that was going to change soon, but I quickly took a breath to compose myself.

"So, welcome to my home." I gestured in with both my arms. "Ta-dah?"

I must have been looking like an idiot because I saw her chuckling. She patted me on the shoulder when I pouted and looked at me with gentle eyes. "It's beautiful."

I blushed again at those words. From virtually anyone else I would've passed that off as patronizing. Angels can't lie. It's not in the nature of an angel to be dishonest, tell false praise or make euphemisms. Sure, they can fudge the truth a bit, but you can't fudge a word like beautiful. All you need to do is look in their eyes and you know they meant every letter. I laughed a bit, hoping that I'd get out of this blushing habit quickly.

"Heh, well you haven't seen anything yet. Come on, you should eat. Have you even heard of pizza? Or chocolate, oh yes you need to try it it's to die fo-"

"Hey, you used up the toilet paper again didn't you?" a voice from the stairway called. "I swear to god Anna, you promised me that you would…" his voice slowed to a pause as Elsa and I came into view. "Oh."

_Shit, I forgot Kristoff was still in tonight. Wait I forgot to tell El-_

"Intruder!" Elsa called out, empowering her voice. In an instant she had unsheathed her sword and had it fixed on Kristoff. "Speak your business now, or let the wrath of God be upon you!"

Kristoff shook the confusion from his face and reached into his pocket. "Look, I don't know who you are, but this is my home. I should be saying that to you." He narrowed his eyes and the air around him crackled with magical energy.

I quickly jumped between the two holding my arms out. "Wait wait, guys stop! Kristoff this is Elsa. Elsa, Kristoff. He lives here." She lowered her sword and looked at me with a confused look in her eyes. "With me." Brows furrowed into a look of disapproval. "As a friend." I added.

She visibly relaxed and sheathed her sword. "I see." She looked up at Kristoff who had not taken his hand out of his pocket. "I apologize for jumping to conclusions. I thought Anna's safety was in danger. Please, let me reintroduce myself." She crossed her left arm over her chest. "I am called Elsa here. I am a knight of God, a crusader for justice and pleased to meet you. I apologize for attempting to assault you."

Kristoff just looked at me and I smiled back. I owed him an explanation, but that could take place after I got Elsa settled in. He took his hands out of his pocket and sighed. "Yeah, okay. I'm Kristoff, nice to meet you." He said with a slight roll of his eyes, but thankfully Elsa didn't seem to notice. She just smiled and muttered a quick thank you which Kristoff returned.

"Hey, I'm going to take her up to her room. She'll be using the old guest room." I grabbed Elsa's hand and half-dragged her to the stairs. Kristoff stepped to the side and we ascended to the second floor.

"I am truly sorry." Elsa said once we were on the second floor. "I fear that I have been in your home for only a few minutes and I have already embarrassed myself."

I snorted and patted her on the back. She flinched at the touch but smiled at me. "Look, it's fine. I highly doubt that he'll hold it against you. I mean, I've done way worse things to him and he still talks to me."

We stepped off the stairway and stood in the hallway. There were four doors there, two lining each of the walls. She stepped forward and put her hand on the closest door on the right. "This one is?"

"That's Kristoff's room. I don't think he'll want you going inside. Even I'm not allowed inside, and I technically own this place." I motioned her along and tapped at the room across from Kristoff's. "This one is my room. It's not… exactly clean right now so I'll show you later. This one is yours." I opened the door to the guest room and showed it off in all its empty splendor. Seeing as we never thought this room would have guests, spirit reindeer notwithstanding, we kept this room as bare as possible. A simple bed was against the far wall under a window next to a nightstand with a lamp. There was a closet on the other corner of the room, and a large bed of hay where a carpet would normally be. She stepped inside and looked around. Breathing in the scents she smiled and looked back at me.

"It's wonderful. Thank you so much." She said and I felt the heat in my cheeks. I pulled at my hair a bit and smiled before motioning across the hall. I walked over to the last door and grasped the knob.

"This one is my other room. Would the lovely lady care to look?"

Elsa nodded and I threw the door open. Inside was my second sanctuary. When I couldn't relax in my room, I always found solace in here. The walls were lined with various firearms of varying sizes. The floor was covered in weapons of practically every other discipline. In the middle was a bright glowing purple orb. I ran inside and started grabbing at every weapon I could get my hands on.

"Anna… what exactly is this?"

"Trophy room. Armory. Playroom." I giggled and turned towards her, holding a pile of guns in my arms. "Take a look at the-woah!" Unfortunately to me, I had knocked over a halberd in my excitement and took a quick plummet to the ground, scattering guns to the ground.  _Well, this is great. Maybe if I continue to lie here she'll think I died._  Sadly that was not the case as I heard the scraping of metal.

"What's this one?" she asked and I looked up. She was holding the nozzle in her fingers, as if she was afraid it would bite her.

"His name is Olaf." I got up and took the pack in one hand and the nozzle in the other. "He gives out warm hugs. Take a look." I pointed Olaf's nozzle to the center of the room and squeezed the handle. First came the hissing noise as gasoline vapor streamed into the air. Then came the spark and an amber jet of flame shot out, lighting the entire cloud in a flash of fire and heat before it disappeared into mist. I blew at the still hot nozzle and smiled at her. "See? Warmest hugs in all of Arendelle. Demons are allergic to fire. Something about the purifying qualities of an open flame. I dunno, but man they're pretty when they burn."

I shuddered a bit as I looked at Elsa. She was biting her lip and shaking her head. "That is certainly…different."

There was this sinking feeling in my stomach. Gingerly I lowered Olaf on the ground and sighed. "Sorry, I guess this is… a bit much isn't it?"

"No!" She yelled, immediately clamping her hand over her mouth. "I mean, no. This is just different for me. Please, tell me more."

"Really? I mean, really? I mean, yeah. Okay, uh. Ooh, what do you want to meet next? I've got Starfire, uh Clarence."

"What about the orb?"

I dropped the guns I was picking up and skipped over to the orb. "I never thought you asked. This here is a transporter. It's a long range teleportation device that can send anything in this room to the receiver at a simple flick of my fingers."

Elsa mouthed an 'o'. "Where is the receiver?"

"You're looking at it." I tugged at my coat. "This here is linked to that glowing orb. Anything that I want in this room can be retrieved as long as I reach back into my coat. I got it off a dead flash demon a few years back. See, you should have seen this thing. Tiny little guy, probably about half my size. Weird nasty teeth, ew. It was teleporting around town and it had broken past the gates. I chased it down and it kept teleporting. Like you touched him and poof he was gone! So I found out that he was hiding this." I nudged the orb with my foot. "In the park under a bench. It was a crazy race but I beat him to it. I took the orb for myself and blasted him in the face. I guess he couldn't teleport if the orb was in motion. After I killed him he turned into this jacket and I've been wearing it ever since. Groovy huh?"

Elsa grasped the corner of my coat and hummed to herself. "Yes, very. I had heard that strong demon souls had practical uses. I had no idea that this is what they meant."

I laughed and tugged at my coat. "Well, I'm glad it turned into this. I never leave home without it. I like the weight on my shoulders."  _Reminds me of the old days._

"And… that one over there?" Elsa asked, pointing to the back wall of the room. There, apart from the other weapons stood a stand. A crimson sword, my Summerglow, leaned against the wall, shining in the dim light. "Is that-"

"Yeah. It's my baby. They let me keep it you know."

"Thank the heavens. I shudder to imagine what you would have done without it. Memory serves, you even slept with it."

I rolled my eyes at the complete trueness of that statement. "Yeah, well. Some of us actually get cold like normal people. Speaking of normal people you look tired."

She opened her mouth to protest but a yawn escaped her lips. She blushed and bit her lip, sending more palpitations down my heart. "I suppose a rest would be in order. I shall see you in the morning, Anna?"

I nodded and she turned to her room. She gave me one last look and smile before closing the door. I waved even after the door shut. Eventually my hand went down over my chest and I heaved a heavy sigh.  _How am I supposed to get any rest tonight?_

* * *

 

Downstairs Kristoff had already turned on the television. He didn't look up as I plopped myself on the couch. "I ordered pizza. Figured we were going to need one for this talk." Opening the box on the floor he handed me a slice of Hawaiian.

I let out an exaggerated sigh. "Again? Pizza? What do you think we are, made of money Krissy? And all that dough is going straight to your thighs!"

"Hey, I'm just following in your example boss."

I glared at him and huffed. "I don't gain weight. It's a personal policy, but chocolate and pizza do not go anywhere near my buns and thighs thank you very much."

He grunted as he munched on cheap ham and stale pineapple. "I never really thought about it before, but that never really made much sense."

"It's a girl thing." I nibbled and a trail of cheese stretched to my chin. "You wouldn't understand."

"That's the problem Anna. Girls say that, but you actually don't. I don't think I've ever seen you gain weight or visibly age since I met you."

"Oh come on Kristoff, it hasn't been that long."

"Eleven years. I've been working for you for Eleven years Anna. I wasn't even a teenager when you saved me."

"And your point is?" I grumbled struggling with some ham that was stuck on my nose.

"You hardly look a day over twenty. I didn't think too much of it, or how you never come home hurt. I didn't think too much of how you were able to actually hurt those things. I didn't think too much about the room you refuse to let me in. I haven't thought to ask and now you bring home some 'knight of God' and just let her take one of our rooms. I haven't thought about all of these but now I think I should start."

I groaned and swallowed the rest of my slice. "You're being too paranoid. Look, you don't need to worry about that other stuff, okay?"

"No. Not okay. I live in this house. I support every stupid thing you do. Don't I deserve to know?"

"You don't need to know everything. Maybe I don't tell you some things because they're not important."

"Not important?" He sat up and glared at me. "What do you mean not important. Is it not important to you that I'm basically living with a stranger!?"

"I didn't exactly ask you twenty questions when you first came to live here, did I. No I didn't."

"And I didn't think to ask until you bring someone home and she immediately threatens me. Don't I deserve some sort of explanation? Anna, please!"

I buried my face in the sofa and screamed. "Fine! Okay, I'm sorry! I just don't want to think about it, so I don't talk about it."

"What's so bad that you refuse to tell me? What could possibly be so bad that you'd refuse to talk about it for more than a decade? Do you even have anything that you do want to tell me?"

I looked back up at the ceiling and closed my eyes. "Look, I don't want to go there. There are things in your life you don't want to remember."

Kristoff sighed and leaned back into the couch. "Even the good ones?"

"Especially the good ones. Makes it harder when you remember how it all went bad."

Even though I said that, I felt my mind wandering back to the old days. Days with me and Elsa. Days when I saw her glowing in the sunset. I felt myself shudder before a strong hand laid itself on my shoulder. I held in a sob and shook my head. "Promise me that no matter what I say, you'll treat me the same. No, swear it. Swear it on the immortal soul of your reindeer."

"It's really important to you, isn't it?"

_It's everything to me._ "Yeah, I guess. Swear it." He swore it and I took another deep breath. "There isn't a real good way to shorten this, so I'll start from the top. Pass me a slice of pizza, this will take a while."


	3. Morning

Chapter 3: Morning

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Frozen.**

* * *

 

" _Do you really mean that?" she asked, looking at me straight on. "Can you really promise that to someone you have just met?"_

_Huffing, I pouted and crossed my arms over my chest. "I'll have you know I'm very responsible. And I always keep my promises."_

_"Then...?" her voice was shaking and her eyes were watering again._

_"Then it's you and me." I reached out and held her hands. They were cold to the touch, but they grasped mine with desperation. "And I will always be by your side. I promise."_

* * *

 

My eyes snapped open. I was lying on my back with my arms stretched towards the ceiling. A cold sweat was running down my back and my breath was shallow and painful. Slowly I lowered my arms and ran my fingers through the mane that was my bedhead. My eyes had adjusted to the dimness of my room enough to make out the usual mess. The sun was burning my freckled skin.

"The sky is awake Anna. That means you should be awake too." I said to nobody in particular. My feet almost hit an empty box of chocolate when they hit the floor. Rifling through my closet I pulled out my clothes for today: A black tank top and some blue cargo pants. It really wasn't a hard decision, seeing as I own maybe five variations of the same pants and a dozen of the same tank top, but I still felt some need to look good.

After I sorted my clothes and found my towel, I headed out of my room, bidding farewell to the various posters of 90's rock bands that I plastered on my wall. The hallway was silent as I crept across it to the stairs. Elsa's door was still closed. I guess she wasn't an early riser. Either that or the whole 'descending from heaven' thing tired her out. Regardless I made my way to the shower for my daily grooming.

After roughly a lifetime and a half, a new personal record, I had wrangled my hair into a pair of socially acceptable braids that hung down to my chest. I hadn't tied my hair like this in years, so it took me a little bit to remember how. I waked down the hall, fiddling with the products of my labor that were still damp from my shower.  _Ya know, maybe I can strap knives or something to these. With all the spinning I do in a day these could be useful._ I broke my musings on follicle-based combat when I passed by Elsa's door again.

Something inside me pulled me closer, and I found myself outside the door with my fist pressed against it.  _Just knock doofus._  My Inner-Anna said when I started to visibly hesitate. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door. It was almost funny; I've chased down nightmares, vampires, hellhounds and never even flinched. But here I am, shaking in my fuzzy slippers because I knocked on a door. If it wasn't Elsa's I would have called myself stupid.

After more than enough time, and enough mental tongue-lashing, I groaned and just opened the door myself. Inside the sun was shining brightly through the window panes. I swear everything was glowing, and not just the angel clothes folded on top of the table. There was this slight chill inside the room, but it wasn't the biting kind of cold. It reminded me of the first time I saw snow. After staring like a slack-jawed idiot for a minute my eyes finally wandered to the bed where Elsa laid, covered in bed sheets from neck to toe.

Now, normally I wouldn't stare. It's rude and a little bit creepy. But I also don't normally have a gorgeous angel lying in my (guest) bed. And normally my guests don't long pale legs with just the right amount of firmness. And they definitely do not have beautiful bedhead that flows down to their shoulders, covering their bare flesh with silken locks. While I was berating myself for how cheesy that sounded, her eyes fluttered open.

"Mrrrh… Quid est?" There was shuffling of sheets and she started to rise. There was a little voice in the back of my head trying to tell me that I was forgetting something. As Elsa sat upright the sheets fell, reminding me of exactly what I forgot.  _Her clothes were on the table you moron!_

The voice in my head was screaming at me, but words failed me. My face-hole organ thing was frozen solid, and it took everything I had to not go completely slack-jawed. Eventually my brain started to unfreeze and I realized that her mouth was moving.

"Anna? Quomodo surgere ante me?" She stretched, oh god she's stretching, as she let out a yawn. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she smiled at me. "Quo- Oh." She coughed, blushing as she cleared her throat, "H-how are you? Are you alright?" Cocking her head to the side, she moved to reach over to my face. "You're bright red. Are you fee-?"

"I am feeling fine!" I sputter out, practically throwing the towel that I still had around my shoulders over her. She let out a cute squeak as she fell back. While falling she thrust her hands out to grab support and ended up getting me by one of my pig-tails. The two of us fell together and landed on the not quite soft enough sheets.

After the initial shock wore off, it took my brain a second to realize the position we were in. Maybe it was the fact that we were only separated by two thin pieces of cloth, or the fact that her hair had somehow managed to get even more beautiful after the fall, but I found myself immobilized, paralyzed and blushing darker than my hair. She herself looked shocked for a moment, but quickly recovered, placing her forehead against mine.

"Your face is warm."  _Not just my face. Bad Anna!_  "Are you feeling sick?"  _In a way. Anna Stop!_  I shook my head as hard as I could and backpedaled to the far end of the bed.

"C-Clothes!" I stuttered out. "W-why are you naked?!"  _Because her clothes are on the table Dum-Dum._

She bit her lip before saying, "I apologize, I did not think this would bother you. Nor did I think you would be awake before myself." Twirling a strand of hair she looked up at me with apologetic eyes. "Did it offend you?"

"Nope, definitely not!" I sputtered without thinking. "It was good. Good in that you slept comfortably. You should do that more often. Sleep comfortably, not naked. Unless you want to be naked. I mean I should stop talking and just get you some clothes."

I stopped talking and looked everywhere but at the naked beauty before me. There was silence and I was worried that I said something incredibly stupid (again). Just as soon as I was about to apologize, soft giggling interrupted me. Looking to the source, I found Elsa, clutching the towel as she was trying to hold in her laughter.

The longer I watched her laugh the harder it became to hold back the chuckles. Eventually I gave in as well, letting out an un-ladylike snort. Said snort broke Elsa's floodgates and the laughter poured out. So today marked the first time I could say that I saw Elsa naked. It was also the first time I spent ten minutes laughing my ass off with a naked girl in her bed.

Eventually the two of us collapsed on the bed, both of us gasping for breath as we stared at the ceiling. She put her hand over my hand before saying, "You're still very easily flustered."

I huffed and grumbled a bit. "People don't usually see each other naked first thing in the morning."

She hummed and tapped on my knuckles a bit. "That would explain your reaction. Apparently nudity has gone out of fashion since the last time I was on Earth."

I snorted and ran my thumb over her fingers. "Okay, jokes? I thought I was the one that changed. Also, wipe that smile off your face. I don't even have to see it to know it's there."

After I said that we both just lay there letting the noon sun warm us up. The sheets were comfortably warm while Elsa's hand was cool to the touch. I closed my eyes and smiled as the realization flowed over me.  _She's here. You're touching her hand again. This isn't a dream. You're together again._  I started to drift off as I just let the feelings wash over me.

"Anna?" Elsa's voice pulled me back from my daze. "Did you hear me?" I mumbled out a negative response. "I was saying, shouldn't you let me get dressed now?"

"Lemme enjoy the afterglow." I said while sighing.

"What's an afterglow?" she asked. I really did not want to answer that, so I reluctantly separated our hands and sat up.

"And that is my cue to get you some clothes. I hope you don't mind borrowing some of mine."

She sat up as well, covering herself with the towel. "I already have my armor and vestments Anna. I do not need to borrow any garments."

I tried to picture Elsa walking around in her uniform. It was actually worse than I imagined, so I waved that thought immediately. "We're heading into town today, so we need to look like normal people. I'll get you some clothes, and do you think you can do something about those wings. People tend to freak out a bit when they see winged people buying groceries."

After she nodded another realization hit me. Elsa is going to be wearing my clothes. Elsa probably doesn't own undergarments either. I'm literally about to get Elsa in my pants.  _I swear, if Kristoff makes that joke I am going to kill him._

* * *

 

"Hey, you finally got a girl in your pants." Kristoff said as Elsa and I sat together on the couch with leftover pizza. I grumbled to myself as I looked my partner over. She wasn't a particularly difficult model, so it only took us a few minutes to decide on an outfit. I settled for a white sleeveless turtleneck and a pair of my black cargo pants. It didn't occur to me before but Elsa was certainly… bigger than me. Thankfully my clothes stretched enough to fit her, much to my embarrassment and mild enjoyment.

"I'm going to let that slide this time, Bjorgman." I said before I took my first sip of coffee. "Especially since you didn't mess up the coffee this time."

"Anything for the princess." Kristoff said with a satisfied smirk on his face. He had the tv on hockey replays again. "So, what's our plan of action today boss?"

_What is our plan today?_  I thought to myself. I kinda just went wherever I got complaints or weird readings on our radar. It had been years since I actively seeked out a target. "I guess we need to figure out what's going on first. Elsa, you got anything to say?"

At the sound of my voice Elsa ceased her process of 'eating' the pizza. In this case eating referred to her picking at the edges of the slice and gently nudging cheese with her tongue. She looked up to me and blushed before putting the slice down. "What, oh. Yes. Sorry, what was that?"

I bit my lip to avoid outright laughing at her. Kristoff on the other hand did not and let out a loud hearty laugh. Elsa only continued to blush as she poked at the crust. Putting my hand on her shoulder I calmly said, "You don't know how to eat pizza do you." She nodded. "You want me to teach you?" She gave me a sheepish grin before nodding again. "Okay. Start from the tip and slowly work your way down. Don't stick the full thing in your mouth otherwise you may start to choke. And if you have any questions, ask our resident expert Kristoff."

At this Kristoff choked on his slice and shot me a death glare that went completely unheeded. Elsa on the other hand just nodded her head and tried taking her first bite. It was slow and tentative but eventually she had worked the first sample into her mouth and started to chew. A light went on in her eyes and they widened till they were almost as large as her smile. Vigorously, she attacked the pizza in her hands. I had to keep her from inhaling the rest of the slice, all to the accompaniment of Kristoff's roaring laughter.

Five minutes, two slices and a dozen napkins later, Elsa had calmed down and was eating at a normal pace again. "Um, please excuse my earlier outburst. I'm not sure what came over me."

I shook my head and patted her shoulder. "It's fine. I reacted the same when I tried chocolate for the first time. You should've seen it. There were bits and pieces of fake Easter Rabbit everywhere."

"And don't forget to mention the blood. I'm sure somebody lost a finger in there." Kristoff helpfully added.

Elsa laughed and smiled at us. "Well, if my behavior has not been too far out, I suppose I should discuss why I am here in the first place." Placing her plate on her lap, she took a deep breath before speaking.

"Yesterday, by your standards, my superiors received a vision. It foretold a great cataclysm. Legions of hellspawn marched across burning landscapes. The city, Arendelle, was completely in ruins. All the buildings were covered in frost and torn apart. Amidst the chaos stood a giant fiend of epic proportions. They called it an archdemon, young in appearance, but with enough power to level continents at his will. Eventually the armies of darkness spread, faster than any plague the world had ever seen. The troops were endless, never running low in supply and humanity stood no chance, and faced either extinction or slavery.

"This was told to them to be a vision of things to come in the future, but only if events were allowed to transpire uninterrupted. They were told that 'In their darkest hour, the world shall turn to their last saving grace. An angel, cast down from the heavens, shall stand against the legions of Hell itself. Cloaked in robes of Ebony and Ivory, she will beat back the forces of Evil through might and fire. The Guardian will vanquish the legions, sealing them in the nether real from whence they had come. So they shall stay, and the gate will stand impervious until the coming of the next Judgement.' Needless to say, nobody desired such a burden to be placed upon their shoulders. When it finally happened, an archangel himself chose who to send, and I was picked to be heaven's representative to stop the rise of Hell's legion."

After she finished her story, she took another deep breath and leaned back against the sofa Kristoff and I were sitting there taking in everything we had just heard.

"Wait, so they saw a vision of a demon army taking over Arendelle? There's not nearly enough frozen here to form an army, let alone demons." Kristoff said with a frown.

"I do not know either." Elsa responded. "It also troubles me that they claimed to see a new Archdemon. The generals of Hell were, for the most part, former angels from Heaven. To see one that was not recognized would imply the birth of a new one. I do not wish to imagine the implications behind that."

"They're opening the gates." I said, not raising my head. Both of my friends turned to me as I continued. "The incident 30 years ago. It's going to happen again."

Kristoff shook his head. "No way. Nobody could even found a portal that could have caused the whole incident to begin with."

"But it fits. New army? You'll need a portal to hell. New Demon dude? You'll need a portal to hell. Either way you look at it, something is going to happen in North Mountain."

Kristoff tried to rebut me, but the words died before they even left his lips. He only took another deep breath before slumping back into his seat. We didn't want to admit it but I'm probably right. Without more information though, this was probably the best explanation we had, not that it gave us a plan.

Elsa interrupted the silence with a gentle cough. "There is… one more detail I forgot to mention." She talked slowly and evenly. "They gave me a time frame for while I could act. The cataclysm is supposed to happen by the end of the week."

Today was Monday. "That gives us four days to figure out what's going on, right?" Elsa nodded at me, holding her hands together in silent prayer. I clapped my hands together and smiled. "Alright then, let's get going."

Kristoff and Elsa looked up at me. "Where are we going?" Elsa asked, raising one eyebrow up in confusion.

"We're going to go figure out what we're going to do next. Kristoff, you wanna search the web for whatever you can find?"

He sighed and gave me a weak salute. "I guess I'm the only one who knows how to use a computer. I'll be on wire if you find anything out." He gave me his best smile. It was a small kind that reached his eyes. In all the time that I've known him, Kristoff always believed me whenever I had a plan. I need to ask him how he does that later.

"Sounds like a plan. Elsa, you go ahead and get ready. I'll finish eating and we'll head out after." She nodded and finished her slice. With a few quick steps she was up the stairs and out of earshot. I sighed exaggerately and slumped back into my chair. "So…" I say, dragging out the 'o' until Kristoff replied.

"We're supposed to stop the apocalypse." Kristoff replied in a matter of fact tone.

"Yep."

"And Elsa's on a direct mission from God to stop it."

"Well, she didn't mention big G, but yeah."

"Okay, why aren't you reacting more to this?" He rose to his feet with a frown on his face. Brown eyes glared at me from behind dirty blonde hair. "The biggest case in years turns out to be the apocalypse, and you're not concerned at the slightest."

I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. "I know her. She's not the kind to fail a mission. Besides she was in a prophecy and stuff. People in Heaven tend to take those kind of things seriously."

"She's not the only one that fits the prophecy."

My breath caught in my throat. I glanced up at his eyes but averted my gaze almost immediately. "Anna, you know it's not necessarily her." I started shaking my head and plugging my ears. "We need you! You fit that description just as well as Elsa."

"The prophecy calls for an angel Kristoff." I say as evenly as my shaking voice can allow.

"You are an angel!"

"No I am not!" I shouted, jumping to my feet. We stood there staring at each other as an uncomfortable silence spread between us. I put my best scowl on to keep the shaking at bay. A gentle hand cupped my shoulder and my scowl faltered. Slowly I started to shake and the hand moved to my back. The ceiling must have been incredibly interesting, because he was looking up the whole time, just standing as rigid as a board. We stood there until my shaking stopped. "I'm not an angel Kristoff. I fell years ago, I told you already."

Kristoff shook his head. "Just because they took your wings doesn't make you any different. Elsa didn't seem uncomfortable around you in the slightest."

I laughed a bit and shook my head. "That's 'cause she doesn't know. Believe me if she knew, she wouldn't be half as close to me as she is right now."

"Why not?" He said in a quiet voice. "You skipped out on that part last night."

I sighed and let my shoulders sag. "Angels are a giant family Kristoff. We're supposed to give everything to the world around us. We don't have problems until an angel starts getting selfish. I mean, ya know everyone knows about that Lucifer guy for example. They're dangerous. It's one thing to know that your friend will give up anything to protect their family. It's another when they'd give up everything to protect what they want."

"I don't get it. How does that lead to banishment and not, I dunno a stern lecture."

"It's not something that we can just shrug off with a lecture." I shook my head as the chills started to come back. "Angels aren't programmed to be selfish. Altruism is built into the brains of every angel ever since their creation. Selfish desire is a major glitch in the matrix. Mortals feel desire. Mortals are willing to give up everything when they find something worth dying for. Not angels."

"So what was worth getting kicked out of heaven for?"

I looked up at him and gave myself a reassuring smile. It felt like a long time before I opened my mouth. A single word came out of my lips, weighed down by years of regret, frustration and sadness. The word that was the beginning and the end to everything in my life it seems. It was both my favorite word, and my worst nightmare.

"Elsa."

****

 


	4. The Office

Chapter 4: The Office

Everyone has a phobia. Some people hate clowns, others hate the dentist. I never really had to deal with those, so I don't really get it. But in the end, everyone has something that they're afraid of. Even I have things that I just won't do and places I refuse to go into. Today I was being forced to confront my fears, and march forward with all my strength.

"Nope, sorry I'm not going in. I'll see you outside." I say brimming with courage as I turn to get out of there.

Elsa had other plans and quickly linked my arm with her. "Anna, you told me that we needed to go here."

"B-but, I." I stammered out. The fear mixed with the emotional rush of Elsa touching me. The result left me slack jawed and my eyes wide enough to fall out of their sockets.

"You told me yourself Anna, no buts. We need to go here to start our investigation." She said being right as usual. "Besides, it's only your guild office, how bad could it be?" she asked while pushing me into the doorframe.

"Look, Elsa it's not the office that's bad, it's th-"

"Ah, Anna! It has been far too long!" A painfully loud voice called from across the room. The office was set as plain as you could imagine it. Comfy sofas in the waiting room, a table with outdated magazines on them. Potted plants that are probably as old as I am. All of this led to the grand table at the back that sat with an even grander chair, both in front of a set of incredibly large and full bookshelves. Anyone who entered this room would be inclined to think that the owner was a very small man who was desperately trying to compensate for it. They would be right.

"Ah, Weaselton. It's a pleasure." I say with my biggest most totally sincere smile.

"Ah, ah. It's Weselton. Really now, you'd think you would remember by now." He said practically jumping out of his chair to greet us.

"Ha ha, my mistake. I'll try to get it next right next time." He walked towards us with his chest puffed out and his toupee falling off. He was wearing his old army uniform, 'from the great war where I earned my purple heart!' It was a point of contention amongst demon hunters as to whether or not he actually went to the army, and if he actually got injured enough to earn a purple heart. I tend to be on the side that believes him, as a war wound is the only explanation I can find for his unique style of 'dance'.

"Ah, no problem my dear, no problem. I must say, you are back earlier than your normal bi-monthly visits. Care for another lesson in the Frolicking Mongoose I assume?"

 _That isn't a dance move, that's a sad call for help._  I thought to myself as he broke into one of his patented dance routines. I stole a glance at Elsa who was smiling. She seemed to be following him along as he spasmed, and I swore I could see her elbows start to move.

"Okay, no no. Weselton, I'm actually here on business this time. So we can save the….lesson" I choked on that last word, "for later."

"Ah, yes." He immediately straightened up and nodded his head. "Business first pleasure later, right? I also must say you have brought the most exquisite companion today."

Elsa held out her hand and said "My name is Elsa, Mr. Weselton."

He took it and gave it a firm shake before turning back towards the library. "A pleasure to meet you Ms. Elsa. Anna surely always brings the finest of company, so I assume you must be no different. Now, come." He sat in his chair and pulled out a large book with glowing edges. Flipping it open, he traced his finger along the words on the page. "I assume you're here to turn in a large bounty, yes?"

I reached into my pocket it and pulled out a small white card that resembled a hotel keycard. He took the card with a nod of his head and held it over the book. Soft glowing particles began to flow from the card. The sparkles glistened down like stars until they rested on the book.

"Is this your first time seeing this, Ms. Elsa?" He asked with a pleasant smile.

Elsa blushed and nodded. "H-how did you know?" She said stuttering in the way that made my heart swoon.

Chuckling, Weselton continue to tap the card as sparkles fell from it. "It's because you have the same stars in your eyes as when Anna saw this for the first time." I turned my head to hide my blush as he continued talking. "It's a standard issue for every active demon hunter. You see, in order to manifest themselves in our world, supernatural beings must create for themselves a physical body that is capable of interacting with the mortal world. When we vanquish them, their bodies disintegrate into aether, the energy used to perform any and all feats of magic and the supernatural."

 _Yeah, I should probably stop him before he gets into a longer rant._ I thought before I patted him on the back a bit roughly. "Yeah, and these things," I tap on the still sparkling card, "trap all that aether and he's transferring it over to that book. The book records how much gets dumped in and I get paid. Easy enough, right?"

Weselton, still shaking from my playful smack, cleared his throat and continue. "Yes, that is correct. It appears that this time, you've made quite the impressive bounty." He fixed his glasses and looked closer. "I say, this is more than five hundred kills within the last week? My god, you certainly have been working extra hard."

I chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, you know me. Addicted to the job."  _I need to make sure to buy Elsa her own pizza for this. Maybe her own wardrobe while I'm at it._  Elsa herself was just quietly nodding, most likely happy for me that I was about to be paid for her efforts.

After a few minutes of writing, sparkle dust and check signing, Weselton finally closed the book and handed me a check. "Well, that is that. Is there anything else I may be of assistance with, or did you simply drop in to collect your bounty?"

"Yeah, I've got something I needed your opinion on." I said, walking over to the bookshelf. There were books on every known subject regarding magic and the supernatural. I idly tapped the books as I looked over them. "If I wanted to tear open a portal to Hell, how would I go about doing that?"

Even though I had braced myself for his reaction, I still winced when I heard him practically choke on air. "Again with this? Anna, I have known you for years, but I have done nothing but warn you about such sordid affairs. First you attempt to break into Heaven, and having failed that you set your eyes upon Hell?"

"Woah, woah. I didn't say that!" I turned to face him and found him standing on the tips of his does, dagger nose pointed dangerously at my chest. His eyes were fixed on me in a glare that could peel the paint off a car. "I'm just saying; how would one do that if they really wanted to?"

He eyed me dangerously before slowly lowering himself to the ground. "And you do not intend to do it yourself." He said in a slow controlled voice. After I nodded he just looked at me for a moment before walking to the book shelves. He rifled through books until he pulled out a fat red book. Laid on the table, the book was embroidered with dark gold borders and had an impressive lock on it. "I never trust anyone else to look over this book. To this day I still do not know who discovered it, but humanity is truly capable of horrific things when they put their mind to it."

As he said that he pulled out a key from his coat pocket, small golden with the slightest rust marks. He placed it in the lock and turned. The lock snapped off and the air changed. I looked to Elsa, and she was already preparing a fighting stance. Weselton wasn't perturbed as he calmly leafed through the book. "This book is one of the few that we didn't write. It was found in the ruins of a parking garage of all things that had been cracked open more than a dozen meters underground during the first assault. Ever since then this book and this key have been passed to the head of the demon slaying guild. The last thing we need is a rogue warlock or witch getting their hands on this."

He stopped for a moment when he reached a certain page. Nodding he turned the book so Elsa and I could get a better look. "This is the closest passage I could find. It details the process of summoning a demon and bidding it under your command."

I read over the instructions. Instantly I wished I hadn't. Elsa had a similar reaction as she tore her gaze from the book. "How could someone even consider that? That is... dear God."

"It's based off the principles of making a person." I started tracing my finger along the page. Skipping the fluff at the beginning, I began to read the instructions. "Every person consists of a mind, a body and a soul. To summon a demon, you must offer it those same parts and in enough quantity for the power of the one you are summoning. It is important to balance the parts out, for these shall be broken down to form the mortal form. Begin with the mind." I shook my head and stepped back. "Okay, so that is seriously messed up."

Weselton nodded in agreement before closing the book shut. "Sadly that is all that I have. Further down the text say that 'in the moment of genesis, open the portal to the demon realm, and the spirit shall flow into the vessel once prepared.' Apparently, a portal is necessary for the process, but there are no specific instructions. Just if, for whatever reason, something is trying to open a portal, my guess would be that this would be at the heart of the cause."

The three of us stood there in silence for a moment. I patted Weselton on the back. "Thanks Weaselton. I think you gave me a place to start."

"Any time my lady." He said with a nod. "And I do await your next visit. It is rare that I have the chance to exhibit my mastery of the foxtrot."

"Sure thing." I said with a wave of my hand as I walked towards the door. "Take care of yourself."

"And you too. I honestly hope that you know what you're doing this time Anna." I heard him mumble as I closed the door behind us.

* * *

 

The gears in my head were still spinning as I came out of the ice cream parlor. The big guy behind the counter must have noticed since he gave me an extra scoop on my Sunday. The black haired kid also threw some sprinkles and candy bits on Elsa's cone, so I made sure to give an extra tip today. Cone in one hand and sundae in the other, I made my way through the crowd towards the park on the other side of the street where I had left Elsa.

When I had arrived Elsa wasn't at the meeting spot. Panicking internally I started to scan the area for her. "Elsa!" I called out, picking up my pace. "Elsa?!" I almost started to run until I saw what had to be the cutest sight of my life.

"Please hold still for just a second!" Elsa cried out as she ran down the sidewalk. Keeping a fair pace in front of her was a small group of ducklings and their mothers. "I just need you to wait a moment." She pleaded to the fowls. "Things will go much more smoothly if you just…" she slowed down as she saw me. Eyes widened and crimson spread over her cheeks. "Um… oh. Hi." She said, smiling at me to what I could only imagine was the goofiest grin I've ever had.

It took about ten minutes before she could stop looking at the ground. For that time we just sat in embarrassed silence, eating our ice creams. "Thish isf weally good!" She said with her mouth full of vanilla ice cream. I snorted as she looked up at me, face covered in white cream.

"Hey, at least try to taste it first." I said as I wiped her face with my sleeve. She squirmed for a bit but let me clean her face. Once I finished she went back to eating. "I was worried that you wouldn't like ice cream, but I guess I was wrong." I went back to eating my sundae as she devoured that poor ice cream cone. "So, mind explaining to me what you were doing with the ducks?" I asked with a small smile.

She swallowed the remainder of her cone abruptly and started to cough. After some patting on the back and a clearer throat she bit her lip. "I thought you seemed a bit distracted today, after going back to the office and such. And I thought you could use something to cheer you up. You always had a fondness for animal spirits and…stuff…"

As she tapered off at the end she looked away, squirming like a little kid. I just sat there stunned, eyes somewhere between her and the sky. "You really remembered that?" I asked slowly, holding the sundae close to my chest. My fingers were turning pink from the coldness, but I couldn't care less at the moment.

"Of course I did, Anna." Elsa said with a small smile. She looked up at me and her gaze made my heart practically burst from my chest. "How could I possibly forget anything about you?"

My sundae must have melted from my embarrassment. My eyes flitted between her and the ice cream before I reached my arm out and pulled her in to a side hug. She yelped at first, but quickly settled into my shoulder. "Thanks. Just seeing you chase those ducks made me feel way better." Elsa just nodded and we sat there together. "You're not going to ask?" She shook her head. "You can ask if you want, about the stuff Weselton said about me. I mean, you deserve to kno-"

"I trust you." She said, cutting me off with a gentle voice. "You must have your reasons, and you'll tell me when you're ready."

How the hell do you respond to that? With just that she leaned back into me and I got another face full of blonde hair and winter mint smell. Maybe she did deserve to know.  _She wouldn't be happy to know that you almost broke into Heaven to see her again._  My internal voice butted in. I bit my lip and decided to nod back at her. We sat in silence, only listening to the sounds of ducks quacking and children making similar noises.

A crackling in my ear broke up my resting time. "Anna, you hear me?" Kristoff's voice echoed into my ear drum.

"Brilliant timing Kristoff, I was worried you had forgotten about me." I said into my earpiece. Elsa adjusted herself as she heard me talking. "So, did you look into what I asked?"

"Well, it wasn't a particularly broad subject," He said with a groan, "but I did manage to find something. There's always missing person reports every day, but over the past few months I did manage to track down a higher population of them around the beginning and end of the week."

"Saturday and Sunday? That's an incredibly specific time for large quantities of people to go missing. Maybe they all carpool together."

"Very funny, fiestypants." He said with an audible eyeroll. "But these aren't like, mass quatities of missing people. It's just a small group, maybe a dozen at most. But the weird thing is that they're consistent. You just don't see people go missing twice a week, every week for the past three months and not consider that something is wrong."

I nodded and recapped this to Elsa. "Kristoff, if what you say is true." She said towards my ear which gave me the weird kind of shivers, "Why have there been no authorities investigating these disappearances?" She sidled up next to me and pressed her ear over my ear. I wanted to tell her that headsets did not work that way, but I couldn't complain.

"The dozen I mentioned was a onetime deal and police did check it out. They couldn't find any reason that they would have all gone missing, and they were too afraid to go check where the victims were last seen."

I tapped my head and hummed. "So, where exactly were the victims last seen?"

"Outside the main gates to the North Mountain district. Kinda makes sense why we haven't seen any trace of them, doesn't it?"

I sighed and scratched at my head.  _Everything always leads back to there, greeaaat._  "Well, I guess I know where I'm going next. Is there anywhere else in this city that bad things happen? You've never seen any living dead in the theater district."

"That's because you hardly see any regular living in the theater district, but that can be attributed to our city's bad taste in culture. Anyway, get moving and make sure to take Elsa with you."

I coughed and shook my head, accidentally pushing Elsa to the side. "Wait wait wait, I did not agree to this."

"What, you thought she was just going to stay home or something?"

"No, well. Maybe. Kristoff you know I work alone." I whispered frantically into my earpiece.

"Well, I guess you don't anymore. And I don't think I'm the one you need to have this conversation with, so good luck." He said while I started to flail my arms around. I opened my mouth to speak but was cut off by an audible click. Groaning, I leaned back, palms against the curb where I sat.

"I'm coming with you." A voice from my side said. I turned and saw Elsa, pouting with her arms crossed over her chest.

"It's too dangerous Elsa," I said. I could feel the air around me chill as Elsa's expression hardened. "You don't know what it's like in there, even I don't know how bad it can get in there!"

"All the more reason for me to come with you! You know I can handle myself." She had started to lean in closer to me, teal eyes fixed onto mine.

"I wasn't saying you couldn't-"

"And you know I won't just let you run out and get yourself killed by yourself!" Her face was almost touching mine.

"I know, but…" I bit my lip harder as my pulse thundered in my ears.

"But what then?"

"I don't want to see you get hurt!" I gasped out before finally averting my gaze. "I don't want to see you get hurt. I don't want to see anything happen to you." I shook my head and squeezed the pavement. "I can't see you get hurt, not while I'm there."

Elsa's expression softened and she leaned over to place a hand on my shoulder. "This is why you make Kristoff stay behind at the computer, isn't it?" A nod was my only answer. "Anna, look at me." I hesitated and she gently cupped my face. "Come on." Slowly I turned and our pupils met once again. "You can trust me. Just like I trust you. You're my partner, right?"

My heart was hammering in my ears again as she just looked at me. She was looking at me with a weird mix of tenderness and hope. I took a deep breath and placed my own hand over hers. "Okay. I trust you."

She smiled and stood up, offering me her hand. I took it and we both stood there, taking in the warmth of the sun together. "Well, let's go." I said, stretching out the kinks in my shoulders.

"Of course." Elsa said, mimicking my motions. "After you the-"

"Um, excuse me." A young voice chimed in from the side. Elsa and I turned to the source to find a girl, probably a late teenager, with bright green eyes and a wide smile looking at us. She was wearing a white hoodie and in her hands were a dozen pamphlets which she clutched to her chest. "I'm sorry to bother you, but do you have a moment?"

I really wanted to say no, but I ended up nodding my head anyway. Elsa did so too, but in a more enthusiastic fashion. It was kinda cute, and looking at the kid's eyes, I couldn't say no to her. She stopped for a moment, and she sputtered.  _We must be the first ones to actually listen to her._

"Well, my name is Marielle, and I'm here representing my congregation. We're here as a support group, a community, but most of all we're here to celebrate our faith together." She started, looking up every so often as she stumbled along her words.  _Maybe now would be a good time to mention that Elsa and I aren't exactly looking for a new religion._  I turned to my partner, but she was politely listening, nodding her head when appropriate and not breaking eye contact.

"The family has meetings every week." She continued, "Where we talk about life, the hardships and struggles…. Oh and love! We talk a lot about love."

"Love?" Elsa asked with a polite smile.

"Yes, love!" the girl, Marielle, exclaimed with a bright smile. "We believe that love is the greatest force in the world! True love can overcome anything, and all you need to do is believe in it and everything will be okay."

I could help but smile a bit at how the girl was gushing. It was naïve to hear, but also kind of refreshing as she went on and on about the wondrous and life-saving effects of love. You could see the sparkle in her eye as she spoke about how much love and everything have changed her life for the better.

Eventually I had to cut the kid off. "Okay, sorry to interrupt but we have to go." I nod to Elsa who gives me a slightly disappointed pout. We exchange some glances, glares and pouting before she nodded at the girl with me. "Thanks for telling us though, it was fun."

She nodded at us and smiled like we just gave her a brand new car. "Thank you so much for listening. Oh, and good luck on your adventure. I couldn't help but overhear that the two of you are going somewhere dangerous?"

I shrugged. "Well, it's a little risky, but we're professionals, right?" I said with a smirk.

"Ah, then may you have protection on your journey until you find where you need to be. Also here." She handed Elsa and I a pair of fliers. "Whenever you have time, the congregation could always use more people. We're even going to have a barbeque in a few weeks."

Deciding not to try and explain barbeques to Elsa at the moment, I nodded and started to walk. "Take care then kid. Good luck recruiting." Elsa smiled and said something similar to me.

"Good luck you two! Make sure to come visit us. Remember, love is an open door!"


	5. Static

Chapter 5: Static

The gate welcomed us with an icy breath. It flowed past my neck, dragging shivers out of my spine. I pulled my coat closer to me and grumbled at Elsa. "I have no idea how you can walk around without freezing in this weather." A playful smile was my only response. "Right right, back to work."

I stepped past the gates and through the murky fog, thick enough to choke me. Through the pale screen I could make out the ordinary sights. Black rusted skeletons of cars lay upon the ruined remains of guns and claw marks. I ran my hand along a wall and felt the scars from the decades. Every step and every breath I took was the same as before, and that bothered me. I let out my frustration in a breath and Elsa stopped walking.

"Did you find something amiss, Anna?" she asked.

"Absolutely nothing." I said with a groan. "There's absolutely nothing here."

"Well, I suppose that makes sense." she said. "The next disappearance shouldn't be for a few days."

I kicked around and looked off into the urban abyss. "Is there anything you can see? I don't think we can afford to wait till Saturday"

Nodding her head at me, Elsa had her eyes closed. She was breathing evenly, tendrils of ice slowly wrapping around her skin. I looked onwards as cerulean light glowed around her, circling around her in a dance of power. Slowly the circle closed in on her before exploding outwards. I breathed in the wave of arctic air that passed over me, dispelling the fog from the area. She exhaled and the rest of the power fluttered out past her feet before she opened her eyes.

"This...district as you call it. While not as thick as home, the amount of aether here is intoxicating. No matter in what direction I extended my senses, it was all aether fog."

I pouted and bit my lip. "I thought angels were supposed to be really good at sensing through aether."

Elsa gave me a triumphant smile. "We are. I could not see anything that stood out, but I did sense some distortions towards the east. I suggest that we start our investigation there."

 _I swear, I could hug this girl._  I thought with a giddy smile. "Alright then, let's go. To the Eastern shopping district!"

* * *

 

"We've been here already." I said, crunching the snow drift under my boot for the umpteenth time. "There are our footprints right there, and those buildings look way too familiar."

Elsa sighed and nodded her head at me. "I thought that it was just my imagination. We also passed through that overpass area at least twice on the way here."

I sighed and twirled one of my pigtails. The buildings loomed over me, grey tones mixed with blacked out windows. Idly, I scanned my eyes over the scenery and didn't find a shred of…whatever I was looking over.

I tapped my earpiece and waited for the buzzing to fill my ear. "Well, somebody took her sweet time calling me back." Kristoff said through a mouthful of pizza.

"Distance makes the heart grow fonder Krissy. Real talk though, where the hell are we?"

Kristoff mumbled something through cheese and bread. Keys clicked and something beeped in the distance. "The map shows you in the East District. Have you guys been walking in a circle for the last two hours?"

"Well, that certainly helps. Is there anywhere else we can go though?" I clicked my tongue as I scanned over the surroundings. "I mean the only place I see are forward and backwards. Kinda weird when I think about it."

"Well, either you need glasses or my map is wrong." He said with a huff.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, my map is saying that you should be near a T-section. You telling me you don't see anything?"

"Hmm, I'll remember to bring my glasses next time. Thanks Krissy, I'll call you when we find something." He mumbled out an affirmative before the earpiece clicked off.

I paced back to the western wall. From what I saw, it was a pretty freaking normal wall. Light grey bricks were held together by slightly greyer veins of cement. There were windows scattered along the buildings. A long cut down the center of the building. Maybe at the top of the building there were some birds or something-

"What the heck!?" I shouted.

Elsa was by my side in an instant. "Anna, are you alright? Did you find something amiss?"

"Elsa, do you see that large almost ominous gash running down the center of that building?"

"What do you me-?" Instantly Elsa froze solid, her mouth widening to a gape. "What in God's name?!"

I only nodded as I looked over the cut. It was as if a giant had cleaved through two buildings and shoved the broken halves together. They had the same color, but the more I looked the more bricks were slightly off from the others, and it started bugging me. Curious, I walked closer to the cut. The edges of it looked smooth and rounded. Actually, I guess calling it a cut wouldn't be appropriate, as it was more like a giant fold. Now as to what could actually fold buildings together, I'm not quite sure.

Something in the air tickled my nose, and I felt my hand drawn to the fold. Slowly I stuck it out, leather-clad fingers reaching towards the gap. They were at least an inch away when the sparks flew. Orange and yellow sparks jumped from the crevice, singing off my glove and running up my shoulder. I jumped back a few feet. My arm had glass shards embedded through it, or at least it felt like that. I flexed my fingers and a spike of pain tore through my arm, dragging a small groan out of my lips.

Elsa was by my side instantly. "Anna, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said, waving her off with my good arm.

"Please take your health serious Anna." She said with a frown. Holding my arm by the wrist, she ran her other hand over the arm. "Your arm was hit by a powerful warding charm. Judging by the aether signatures, it was strong enough to put a normal human into a coma, but not strong enough to kill."

I shook my arm until the tingling went away. "How exactly do you know how much aether a human can take before they die?"

Elsa smirked at me. "You haven't seen me in thirty years Anna. I've picked up some tricks." My partner said with a hint of mischief. Instantly, that whimsy was gone and the air of seriousness returned. Elsa kneeled in front of the gap, a safe foot or two away from the wall. She muttered to herself, making a small crystal of ice appear. It hovered over her palm, spinning gently in place. With a quick flick of her finger the crystal shot towards the gap. It continued to spin as electric coils wrapped around it. Steam erupted from the crystal as it continued forward. The little diamond spun faster as it was disintegrated. Elsa stood up after, patting her knees.

"You know, that doesn't seem safe." I said. "I mean, someone could probably lose a finger if they got too close."

"Actually, if you were to touch the surface directly, you would lose more than your fingers."

"They definitely need to put a warning sign then. Wait, I thought you said that it wouldn't be strong enough to kill someone."

"People don't die from a few lost fingers." Elsa said matter of factly.

"Ugh. Now I really don't want to know what you've been up to." I pouted and reached my hand out toward the gap.  _Doesn't seem that dangerous from here. It even took that ice a few seconds to melt… wait._  "Elsa, I need you to freeze my hands!" I yelled, grabbing her hands.

"What, Anna? What are you talking abou-"

"I've got a plan. Just make sure that the ice is as dense, no denser than that crystal you made." I smiled with only the smallest hint of madness.

She sighed in exasperation, but gently held my hands. The air around us began to swirl and I could see frost begin to form on my knuckles. " _Congelo!_ " She said. Her voice resonated with power and my hands chilled more than ten degrees. I didn't feel it when she let go, but my hands almost dragged me to the ground. Pulling them up, I looked over my fingers. Each digit was covered in a translucent blue wrapping of ice, at least an inch thick. I flexed a finger and the ice moved with me. I could spend all day looking at Elsa's work, but I forced myself away. I had something incredibly stupid to do.

"Alright, let's do some science." I muttered as I walked to the gap.

"What does that mean Anna?" Elsa asked as I thrust my hands forward. "Wait, don-" Anything she said after that was drowned out by the sudden rush of sound and light . Power erupted from the gap, engulfing me in a bright white light. My eyes were forced shut, white rays threatening to singe my retinas. If that wasn't bad enough, there was a furious screaming as lightning seemed to dance around me. I could feel the ice on my hands already begin to melt. The gap was rejecting me, not wanting me to get even close to the opening.

It only got worse as I grabbed the side of the gap with my hands and pulled. Heat and numbness spread up my arms as I pulled with all my strength. Needles in my arms twisted, and I could feel my flesh rending. The wall refused to move, staying completely still as I pulled. The steam rose over to my face, tickeling my nose as I doubled my efforts. Hazarding a glance, I opened my eyes a bit. The glare was even worse than before, but through the smoke and lights I could make out movement. A small, gradual movement of concrete, but movement nonetheless.

There was more movement on the other edge of the wall. Another pair of hands, cobalt blue and rippling with energy, had grasped the side and seemed to be pulling with all the force they could muster. I smirked and planted my feet. Taking a deep breath, I pulled even harder, straining every muscle I had. I'm positive that Elsa was doing the same.

Little by little the stone began to move. I was almost at my limit when an earth shattering boom came from the gap. The force threw me back onto my back, and I rolled at least three feet before I finally came to a stop. I lay there on the ground, bells still ringing in my ears. I tried to move my arms, but all I got was an incredible sharp pang of pain from where my arms were supposed to be. I looked over and could see that: yes they were still attached to me, no my gloves and a decent part of my sleeves were not, and the back of my hands were blacker than the first meal I ever cooked.

Eventually the burning stopped and I managed to sit up. Blood rushed from my head and I almost fell back down. Thankfully I managed to keep myself up with my slightly less charred hands. Through the blotchy white spots I could make out the street around me. I strained my eyes and looked towards the gap. The gap had unfolded completely. What was a cut was now a full blown street. I laughed to myself as a warm wind blew from down the street.

The air crackled with a defeated whimper as I stood up. Bits of aether crackled around me as it slowly puttered out of existence. Something was crackling, and I think it was either the magic fizzing out or my eardrums repairing themselves. Blood and pain pounded my temples as I straightened my back, but a soft groan of pain cut through the static.

The noise came from a crumpled form on the ground. I ran faster than I should have to Elsa's side. Dropping to my knees I grabbed at her hand. She stirred at my touch and I breathed a sigh of relief. The ice around her hands was mostly intact and there wasn't a hint of a burn was a decent amount of blood on her arm, but I'm pretty sure that was from me.

She shook and turned towards me. Teal orbs looked into my blue and she broke into a relieved smile.

"You are an idiot." She said as she say up.

"Let she who has not jumped head first into a burning orange explosion of energy cast the first stone." I said with a smirk. "Jesus said that."

"That is not how the scripture goes." She said with a small smile.

"I'm sure Jesus would like my version better."

Elsa only chuckled as her gaze drifted over me. It went from my eyes and trickled down my face. I swear it almost lingered at my lips before it shot to my hands.

"Anna, you're covered in blood!" she gasped.

"Huh?" I looked down at my hands. "Oh. I'm bleeding." I said. I finally had an answer to one of Kristoff's questions: Do I look the same on the inside as normal people. The answer is, yes. My hands looked like a cheap halloween skeleton, splattered with strawberry jelly. A finger flexed and blood poured out.  _That certainly explains the light-headedness._  I thought to myself as Elsa held my arm by the wrist.

"Anna, you're not just bleeding." she said, face paler than usual. "God, don't. I.. Oh my God."

"Hey, Elsa, relax. I've got a healing factor. It'll just take a second to heal." I said with a smile, holding up my other hand. The flesh was already beginning to form back, along with the nerves. I winced as sensation, mostly pain, started to return.

"It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how well you can heal this. This is.. Oh my God." Elsa was shaking now. "This is…"

 _I am the biggest dick._  I thought as I scooted closer to Elsa. "Hey… Elsa? Elsa, I'm here." She was crying now. I checked my hand and wrapped the less mangled one around her shoulder. She winced at the touch before leaning into me. "I'm sorry." I muttered into her hair. Wintergreen and static flowed into my nose as I held her close.

"Please… don't do that again." Elsa said through her shaking. "You hurt yourself that badly without even… without even thinking about it."

"Yeah… I don't exactly think things through." I said. I gently rubbed her back with my thumb. The skin had already healed, so I didn't have to worry about getting more blood over her.

"I just… I just found you again Anna. Please… don't take yourself away from me."

I reeled, feeling like I had just been slapped in the face. "What? Elsa, no! I'm not going anywhere!"

"Then, promise me you won't let yourself get hurt that badly again." She pushed off me gently and looked me in the eyes. "I know that you won't get killed. I know that you'll come back. I know that you're strong." She took my hands in hers. "I also know.. that I'm not that kind of strong. I'm not strong without you. Please don't leave me alone again."

I looked down at her hands. Elsa, my partner. Elsa my angel. I spent my time on Earth thinking, looking for the perfect angel that I knew. I think this is the first time I've really seen Elsa in thirty years.

"Hey, what are you talking about." I said with a smile. "You are plenty strong on your own. More than me, trust me. And us?" I place her hand on my shoulder. "We're stronger than anything this world, the one above or the one below have to offer."

She laughed, though it sounded more like a wheeze. "I think that's borderline heresy Anna."

"It's not heresy if it's true, right?" I smirked and stood. I held out my hand to Elsa who was still prone on the ground.

Elsa shook her head but took my hand in hers. She stood up a bit too quickly and stumbled into me. I blushed like a teenager on prom night. She stood up and smiled at me, dried tears almost completely faded.

"Well, we can't call ourselves the strongest until we figure out what's behind all of this." she said with a smile in her voice.

I laughed and tapped her in the shoulder. "Hey, you're the one that got all emotional. Come on, let's get this over with." I said as I turned towards the newly opened street. Elsa readied herself to my side. "I need to apologize for knocking their door in."

* * *

 

The street looked normal from a distance, but that was it. Even a normal person would know that something was severely wrong the second they laid foot on the pavement. The air reeked of death, smelling of flesh excrement and fear. There was the same overcast light across the district, but somehow it felt dimmer as soon as we entered.

Elsa coughed as we walked down the road. "The air is thick with aether." she said, covering her mouth with her sleeve.

"It's full of something. Are you sure?" I asked, but involuntarily raised my arm to my mouth as well.

"Yes, but this is a totally different kind of aether. It's thick and malicious. You can taste it too, can't you?" she asked. I raised an eyebrow in response. "The rest of the area has aether in it, but this area is positively flooded with aether. It would most likely incapacitate anyone without resistance."

"What, is it bad magic dust?"

"No, there is just far too much." She said as we both walked down the street.

Along the sidewalks there was a distinct nothingness. There were no burn marks, no demon scratches lining the walls. No puddles of blood dragged alongside the ground nor scorched remains of civilians. There was no empty beer cans or crushed french fry containers. If it were up to me, I would have said that we were the first people to set foot in this place for years.

"Elsa you getting a bad feeling about this?"

She hummed a bit. "It almost looks like something has been maintenancing the area. That could be concerning."

"Yeah, let's make sure not to bump into whoever's in charge of tha- Hey, look at that!"

In the distance I could see a body ambling about. It was stumbling along the street, arms flailing about. It clawed at it's face, letting out a hoarse scream that snaked down my spine. Elsa and I ran towards it as it, actually a he by the sound of his voice, continued screaming at the top of his lungs.

When we approached he stopped his screaming. His arms dropped to his side and he turned to us. He looked far worse up close than I imagined. He was wearing the tatters of a college sweater and torn up jeans. His skin clung to his bones like plastic wrap. Patches of dark hair was littered about his scalp and a few were held tightly in the hand by his side. His eyes darted back and forth between Elsa and I. If he looked at me any harder his eyeballs were probably going to pop out of his skull.

"Get away… away from.. run.." he said with a shaky voice.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked, hand at my side, ready to draw a weapon.

"Run… away… get away." He repeated, head shaking like his voice.

"Anna, stay back." elsa said, raising an arm to my chest. "There is something wrong."

"Run… away!" he yelled, clawing at his cheeks. "Must… run away!"

"Hey, calm down. We're not going to hurt you." I said, holding my other hand out to him. "Take it easy and talk to me."

"Run away!" He screamed again, stumbling back from me. "Run awa-"

A face had appeared behind his shoulder, flashing a shark's grin. It opened it's mouth and bit down on the boy's jugular. Blood spurted in an erratic fashion, soaking the ruined sweater in it's owner's blood. The boy flailed about, screaming as tears mucus and blood poured down his face.

Elsa was the first to react, but it was too late. The boy's body slumped to the ground lifeless. Above him stood a girl with a slim build and a moldy complexion. Sharp eyes laid above the predatory grin. She cackled, sounding like rusty nails on concrete. A shadow lept from behind her. It jumped into the corpse. The corpse moved it's arms about before hopping to it's feet. It flailed about like a puppet controlled by an amateur. It stopped as sudden as it started, arms at it's side and head at a weird angle. Elsa and I stepped back as the two figures turned to us with predatory grins.

"What… do we have here?" The female figure said. Her voice was a sharp and painful to hear, like shrieking metal during a car accident. "Where… did you two come from?"

Elsa and I reached for our weapons. "We're investing the disappearances." I said with a steady voice. "I'm guessing you guys would know something about it."

The boy coughed and spat out some viscous fluid. "It... does not matter. We…. shall feast…"

Elsa had already drawn her sword. "Feast? Is that what you have been doing to the missing people?"

The girl laughed in the same painful way. "You...need not know. The master...is the one you should be asking."

"You're not going to give us a chance to ask are you?" I asked, Frostbite and Marshmallow in my hands.

"No. We will not." The girl said through dyer fangs. Her pupils had dilated, and her face seemed thinner than before. She howled into the sky and a dozen howls replied. The ground began to rumble with the stoping of hundreds of feet.

"Of course it's not going to be easy." I turned to Elsa and smiled at her. She looked back concerned before flashing me a confident smirk.

"Alright Elsa..." I said as the stomping grew louder. From down the street I could see a mob of creatures barreling down the street. The growled and howled, spittig everywhere as they scratched at the ground with sharp nails. I took a deep breath as they neared us. I could see the dilated pupils and fangs dripping with various fluids. I raised my guns and ran forward. "Showtime!"


	6. Ignition

 Chapter 6

 

They hit like a storm, but we hit back just as hard. One minute Elsa and I were running into a hoard of monsters, the next everything was fangs and claws. I was standing next to her one second, and the next it was just me surrounded by angry vampires. I smiled as I pulled the triggers, letting Frostbite and Marshmallow tear through whatever was in front of me.

Muzzles flashed as I danced through the wave of vampire zombies. My leg snapped out, knocking a young man in the chin. Twisting, I crossed my arms behind my back and blew a couple away with both guns. I twisted my body and spun on the ground. The momentum carried me into a flip over a rushing vampire and our foreheads touched for the briefest of moments. Well, before I blew his brains out.

            As I touched ground, I drew Summerglow in a blaze of orange glory. Smiling to myself, I thrust her forward, impaling a creature on my sword. She writhed in agony, clutching at the white hot blade, only burning her fingers in the process. I stepped forward and swung my sword, cleaving her into two well-cooked halves. They flopped to the ground and I kicked one to the side with my boot. The wall of vampires hesitated before me as I stood tall, blazing sword at my side. I smirked and opened my mouth to say something witty about tenderloin. I was cut off when the ground rumbled beneath me, knocking me and most of the monsters off their feet.

Butt on the ground, I looked up to see ice crystals shooting out of the concrete with bodies hanging off the jagged points. I scrambled back to my feet and dashed to ground zero. Swinging my sword, I saw bits of vampire fly past me while screams resonated into my ears. I shook off the gore and kept running as fast as I could to Elsa.

A blast of arctic air threw the monsters in the air. It almost lifted me off my feet before I managed to brace myself. I threw my arms in front of me as the familiar frost coated my sleeves and the legs of my pants. Shaking it off, I looked towards the now-open circle of vampires with Elsa standing in the center.

She was covered in slight scratches and scrapes, most of them already beginning their fast healing process. Sadly the clothes did not have any form of healing, but I wasn’t in a position to care about that. She was panting, her right arm hanging limply by her side while the other supported her. Her makeshift ice fortress had already been shredded by the vampiric rush, and the air around her was dull with fatigue. I almost slapped myself. She only had that body for about 24 hours, of course she can’t properly fight with it.

I wanted to slap myself, but I had more important priorities. I dashed across the frosted ground towards her, watching as her eyes began to glow in desperation. “Elsa!” I called out. The aura dropped immediately as her head snapped in my direction. “Fall back! I’ll cover y-”

The words had barely left my lips as a pair of fangs drove themselves into my neck. My feet flew out from under me as the vampire tackled me to the ground. Immediately another vampire jumped on top of me, clawing at my chest. A third followed suit and a fourth. I could barely make out Elsa from under the pile of undead creatures that were mangling me, but before my vision went black I could make out her screaming with tears in her eyes. With that image burnt into my mind, everything dissolved into pain and everything blurred to black. It was a weird…floaty…feeling…

* * *

 

_“No, please. Please don’t. I-no please.”_

_“It’s… okay…” a chocked cough. Blood splattering on the ground. “You’re…safe. That’s what’s important.”_

_“No, no.” Heart racing, pulse pounding. Her pulse fading. Getting colder every second. “You-you’re going to be fine. It’s going to be fine.”_

_A smile. Her hand raises to a tear-stained cheek. Blood mixes with tears. “Yeah…it is. Hey, what… what’s with that look?” A smile and shivering. “Hey… I’m getting cold. Y-your hugs are warm. Can I… Can I have one last one?” Shaking arms wrap too tightly around the withering frame. “Thank you… You really must be an angel…”_

_Her breath slows. “Hey… hey stay…stay with me. No. No please. Stay with me! Els-”_

* * *

 

“Elsa!” I wheezed as my eyes jerked open. I could still see the pale blue tunic splattered with crimson and feel the touch of dying skin on my hands. My breaths were erratic, each a gasp muted by the hoarseness of my throat. A hand stroked my cheek, wiping off a tear that I hadn’t noticed.

I turned my head to face her, also realizing that my head was on her soft lap. She looked down to me, an expression of relief tinged with a bit of pain. Elsa bit her lip before making a tentative smile.

“Hey.” She whispered. I opened my mouth to speak until I realized that no sound was coming out. Elsa ran a gentle hand down my arm. I shook at the touch. It was cold, but there was a pulse. I looked at her eyes, cerulean orbs filled with concern and… fear? Why would she be afrai-

“Shit, vampires!” I exclaimed, struggling to sit up. What the hell happened anyway? I remember fangs. Pain. Fangy Pain. I don’t know, but Elsa was struggling to keep me from getting up.

“Anna! Anna, no, it’s okay!” She cried out, keeping me from breaking out some serious violence. “They’re gone. The survivors retreated.”

I held onto her arm, breathing as the words sunk in. “So… you’re safe?” I asked. She nodded and I practically threw myself onto her. “Oh thank God. I was so… God.”

She hugged me back and I could hear slight sniffling. “Yes… All thanks to you Anna.”

I snorted as I rested my head on her shoulder. “Yes, well getting mauled always tends to scare off my enemies. So…” I chewed my lip and scratched at my head. “Thanks for saving me.”

She stiffened and pushed me away. “What- Anna, are you- you don’t remember?”

Eh? “Well I don’t want to remember more of the biting, but no, that’s the only thing I remember. I was being eaten and now I’m not. Did..something happen?”

“Yes, you… something did.” Elsa swallowed and motioned to my hands. I haven’t looked at them yet, so I guess she wanted me to clean up the blood or someth-

“Well… shit.” I muttered. My left hand looked normal, maybe a bit pinker than usual. It still throbbed with the strain of a freshly healed wound. The other had a red tint, but I think that was because of the blood. It was ash gray from the elbow down. Pulsing red veins trailed down my forearm, radiating heat like cracks in a volcano. I followed a sliver of fire down my arm as it coiled around my forearm, wrapped around my wrist and snaked its way to my clawed fingers. I grabbed at my arm, hissing as the heat seared my hand. Breathing deeply I focused my aether on my arm, hoping that it would work. Slowly but surely the color returned to my flesh and my nails retracted to normal proportions. I took my other hand off and shook it as the burning sensation started to fade. The whole time Elsa just sat across from me, watching without comment.

I fumbled with my words, tripping over myself until she opened her mouth. “What was that?” she asked, voice betraying only the slightest hint of fear. “I… I’m incredibly grateful that you saved me Anna, but you need to explain.”

“I’m not sure what you mea-”

“Anna that was demon fire!” She yelled before clasping her hands over her mouth. She lowered them and cleared her throat. “I… sorry, but. Please, check… one of the bodies near you. You… tore it up while you were in that ‘state’.”

I swallowed and turned to the smell of burning flesh and cotton. It looked like it used to be a person. I mean, it’s missing a few parts that a person usually has. Something like arms, legs and… most of a face. Across its chest were three lines of flame, stemming from deep gashes across the victim’s chest. They burned and showed no sign of stopping, seemingly feeding off itself to stay alive. I reached my hand towards it and felt the distinct aura of malicious energy. A quiet thump in my chest reacted to the fumes that came off the corpse. I didn’t have to check the limb stumps to tell that they were in the same condition.

“Elsa…” I started as I turned to her. She looked down at her hands, a dozen unspoken questions on her face. “Hey, um. I… I can explain. Later, just. Now’s not the, shit how do I-”

“When were you going to tell me?” she said quietly, hardly more than a whisper.

“Tell you what?” I asked.

            “Tell me that you could do that. Anna…” She was biting her lip now and I could almost see blood leaking. “Anna, how long have you been a demon?”

            I snapped back like I had been struck. “What, I’m not a demon!” I said, perhaps a bit too loudly.

            “Then explain that! Yes you were able to use fire before, but that? That wasn’t normal Anna. I don’t want to question you either, but.” Her breath hitched as she looked away from me. “I have my orders.”

            “Hey, Elsa. Elsa no, listen to me. I am not a demon. And I am sure as hell not the guy you were sent down here to deal with.” She didn’t face me, only holding herself tighter. “Elsa, please believe me. I’m not, I swear. I was going to explain, but it… it hasn’t happened in a long time.” I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “It hasn’t happened since the time I fell. It’s been so long that I figured it must have gone away or something.”

            She looked to me skeptically before I raised my hands in surrender. “Honestly Elsa. It… it was some sort of self-defense mechanism. The first time it happened, I was under enough stress that my body changed on its own. Apparently almost dying was enough for that part of me to come back out and save my ass.”

            Elsa cocked her head at me, obviously not convinced by my explanation. “This…isn’t the first time that this happened?”

            “No, and I don’t like thinking about the first time that it happened either.” I said, grumbling to myself.

            “What happened?” She asked, lowering her hands and her guard a bit.

            “I… I don’t want to get too far into details okay.” I said, shaking off the images that were threatening to swarm into my brain. “Someone I…really cared about died. It snapped something in me and I turned into…that thing you saw. And it was different this time since I don’t even remember turning into anything. It’s the first time anything has almost managed to kill me in years, so I guess it was some sort of failsafe or something. There. Good enough for you?”

            I realized I almost spat those last words out a bit too late. Elsa looked like I had slapped her. “I didn’t realize.” She said, completely crestfallen. “I had no idea… Anna, I-”

            “Wait, no.” I said, shaking my head at myself. “Look, it… it’s my fault okay. I should’ve told you about that a while ago, okay? I’m sorry.” I scooted over to her, holding out my hand. She leaned over and onto my shoulder.

            “Okay. I… I am sorry that I accused you of being an archfiend.”

            I snorted and patted her on the back. “Please, Kristoph’s probably called me worse. I’m sorry that I went all demony on you without giving you any warning.”

            She laughed and gave me a quick hug that lasted far too short. “Do not trouble yourself. Now, um. Can we continue our journey instead of sitting here in the middle of a pile of corpses?”

            _Oh yeah._ I smiled and stood up, holding my hand out. She hesitated for a moment before taking my hand. I tugged and pulled her up and we stood there, face to face but unable to make eye contact.

            “So, uh yeah.” The tense atmosphere was making me wish I actually died back there. “Is there anything else I missed while I was unconscious?”

            “Oh, um. Yes. After you… ‘dispatched’ a sizable chunk of them, the rest of the creatures just flopped to the ground. None of them have moved since.”

            I hummed and looked down at the fallen limb of someone I dismembered. Picking the first arm I could find I lifted it to take a better look. The arm was pale, paler than a dead body should’ve been if I had just incinerated it. The skin had an ivory complexion to it, feeling cold and plastic to the touch. It was stiff as well, as if rigor mortis has had plenty of time to stick. I checked the hand, seeing the black nails that protruded into sharp points, the tips dripping with blood. Curiously, I pricked my thumb against one of the dry tips. It came off blood red and dripped onto the ground.

            “Hey, Elsa.” I call out to my partner who was crouching behind some sad dead college kid. She looked over to me at my call. “Can you take a look at this? Sense any magic that’s not on fire?”

            She walked over and looked over the arm with only a little disgust. Quietly, she closed her eyes and held her hands over the arm. It danced with light blue light, swirling between her fingers and the, uh… fingers. The light jarringly turned to black and Elsa drew her hands back immediately.

            “I was afraid to analyze any of the corpses because of your work on them.” I honestly had forgotten that the arm’s stump was currently on fire. I tried to half-heartedly put out the flames, but I gave up to listen to Elsa. “But yes, there is something truly…evil inside of there.”

            “Do you mean still inside, or are we talking used to be inside?”

            Elsa bit her lip and walked over to the torso. She held her palm over this one and immediately retracted it. “Yes, still inside. Something…restless and evil. It’s… struggling to be free I think.”

            I pouted, pulled Marshmallow out of my cloak and fired a shot directly into the torso. Elsa jumped back at the sudden noise. “Well, is it dead now?” I asked.

            She looked at me, slightly red in the face before she shook her head. “No, it’s not a matter of the physical flesh dying. It felt like… like something was bonded to the flesh. It was using the body as a vessel, and seeing as you had previously destroyed most of it, the creature is trapped inside.”

            I nodded and turned to the other bodies left behind. I walked over and crouched next to a baby-faced kid, probably in his early twenties. I twisted his arm a bit, and it was just as stiff and pale as the others I had seen, maybe even a little more. The fingers on the other hand were just as normal as the hand. It even had his nails cut short. No matter how hard I tried to scratch myself with it, it couldn’t do anything resembling damage.

            Elsa walked up next to me as I stood up. “I already checked a few of these. They have residue, but none of the actual creatures inside of them. They’re just…bodies.”

“So, we’re dealing with powerful spirit creatures that possess dead bodies and use said bodies to feast on not quite dead bodies.”

“That is an accurate summation.”

“I liked it better when I was just dealing with undead monsters that used to be townspeople.”

Elsa gave me a soft smile. “Don’t tell me you’re scared.”

I smirked and waved her off. “Nope, I just like my fights simple. Come on, let’s see if we can find anything similar to a boss battle.”

“A what?”

I laughed and patted her on the back. “I’ll teach you about video games later. Come on, let’s not wait around for something else to jump us.”

* * *

 

Our search led us to a tall ware-house looking building. It loomed over us, looking creepily normal. It was spotless. The bricks were perfectly aligned, edge aligned with edge throughout the whole wall. The windows were evenly spaced out, silver shutters keeping the inside closed from the outside. Two windows, evenly spaced apart and right in the middle of the building with a plain steel door in the center. No mold signs, dust residue or cracked windows. It was an immaculate building, which tipped me off before Elsa did her magic sensing thing.

“People don’t treat their own houses this well.” I said as Elsa checked for traps. She said something about not wanting me to vaporize my arm again or something. I told her that it happened only slightly more often than she thought it did. “If we’re going to find whatever is behind all this, we’re best off checking this place out.”

Elsa stood up and made her way to me. “True. They also apparently did not expect anyone to make it this far. There is not a trace of the magic we found earlier at all. Though…” She paused, putting a finger to her lips. “It does appear that there is some sort of aether residue extruding from the building. Though…”

“Is there something bothering you?”

“The residue was…familiar. I think it felt like that boy we met earlier.”

I kept a hand ready at my side. “You think there’s some of them in the building?”

“Most definitely, but that’s not it. The boy’s aura… it was like this before he was killed and possessed.”

So there was definitely some weird magic going on. I looked on the suspiciously unsuspicious building and let out a sigh. “Well, if that’s the case, I’m going in.”

Elsa nodded. “We can’t make any progress just standing out here.”

Smiling I walked over and grasped the door-handle, turning it gently as I pulled. The door squeaked open, leading into a dimly lit hallway. I waited to see if anything wanted to greet us, and failing to find anything I motioned for us to move inside. Elsa made a cute ‘after you’ motion and I stepped inside.

It was too normal inside. As we walked through the hallway, barely illuminated by the ceiling lights that swayed lightly in the breeze, I let my eyes wander. There were plants that looked good despite being thirty years old. Little certificates in frames dotted the walls at periodic intervals. The inside was quiet and quaint and it gave me the same weird feeling as outside.

It got worse once I realized that I’ve seen the same potted plant maybe fifty times in a row. I stopped in my tracks near a door that looked like the others as Elsa cleared her throat.

“I believe that now would be the time to apply one of your less ‘conventional’ solutions.” She said.

I blew at one of my braids. “You make it sound like the first thing I do in a new situation is something incredibly stupid.”

“Am I incorrect in saying that?”

I smirked. “Nope. Let’s get out of this hallway then.” Walking down I grabbed at the door which I suppose has always been the only one in the place. Twisting the knob I threw it open, only to be met by a large gust of wind and an assaulting barrage of color. It was like a portal to a Dahli painting based on office equipment. The plant I saw had about a hundred siblings and all of them seemed to be cut in half or torn in some weird but clean angle. The doors were only halfway connected to themselves, the frames not matching up at all, some not even touching to begin with. The colors were twisted everywhere and everything seemed to be in a haze.

“I’m starting to think that this was a huge mistake.” I muttered as I stepped through the frame. Elsa only shuddered a bit before walking in beside me. We walked through the hallway, weapons at the ready. Every step was met with a resounding echo and the faintest bit of laughter. I squeezed the grip on my guns a bit hard, but I continued to press forward. Elsa was preoccupying herself with a mental scan of this place.

“It’s like a storm here.” She said. Her voice echoed too far after her. “I try to breathe in the energy here, but it feels like it is constantly changing. It is almost as if this area is trying to re-assemble itself but is constantly failing.”

“You make it sound like it’s alive.” I said, scanning the walls as they shifted from red to purple then some shade of green I had never seen before.

“Not alive… It’s just not supposed to exist. Something has tampered with the structure of this place to a degree that the building itself is attempting to undo the damage. Nothing on Earth can do this.”

I looked at the swirling patterns that darted over the broken frames and plants. “Are you implying what I think you are?”

Elsa pressed her hand against the wall. She closed her eyes in concentration, a blue aura appearing around her hand. She bit her lip in concentration, struggling to keep the aura safe from the black tendrils swirling around it. Suddenly the dark veins swarmed together and thrust to her hand, forcing her to pull back. She recoiled, looking like a kid who just touched a stove. “It is definitely the work of a powerful demon.”

Magic always left behind a trace of whoever used it. To those without the ability, there is hardly a difference, but spiritual beings can identify magic traces to almost complete accuracy. From what I learned, it came down to how the magic itself behaved. Human magic had a tendency to glow. It was small, weak but incredibly volatile. Angel magic was like looking at the sun. You would look at it in awe before it started to burn. But if you were careful, it was warm and comforting.

Demon magic was what happened when you didn’t stop looking at the sun. It slowly burned your eyes, causing extreme pain as your retinas started to boil. But you couldn’t look away as it would snake through your system, filling your entire being. Eventually there would be nothing left of anything touched by demons. They could never create, only destroy and they were incredibly good at doing it.

Elsa waved her slightly smoking hand as she looked to me. “I am sorry. I attempted to find out more about the structures here, but it appears that the building had other ideas.”

“It’s fine.” I said, moving my hand over her injured one. She took mine like it was a reflex. “We’ll just have to be careful about where we go.”

“Yes, but. I did manage to feel something before the energy forced me away. There was… there is someone here.”

“Someone like a big scary demon dude?”

She started to nod but shook her head. “No, I mean. I saw them, but I could not get a proper feel for them. I mean I sensed something else in here.” She looked me in the eye as she exhaled. “Someone else is inside the building.”


	7. Meetings

"What do you mean somebody's here?" I asked. Anxiety welled up in my voice as a thousand different possibilities flashed before my eyes. Other demon hunters? No, we would've bumped into them. Survivor? Maybe, though the pile of corpses outside leaves little room for hope. Rich white guy who's behind all of this? No, this isn't a kung-fu movie. "Can you tell anything about them?"

She shook her head. "No, I could not make out anything other than the aura."

"Nothing stand out to ya? Horns, a tail, bad breath?" I asked

"Nothing at all, only that I…believe it was human."

I hummed to myself and thought for a moment. So it's definitely not something supernatural. If it's not supernatural, then it has to be a person who's here for something. "I'm going to wager that it's somebody important."

Elsa rubbed her singed hand and looked at me. "Where did that idea come from?"

"We fought an army of corpses outside. They all were re-animated bodies, and I'll be you that most of them will show up on the missing person list. Add in the fact that something really wanted to keep people out of this place and I can't imagine someone just stumbling in here. I mean, we almost died getting in here. I can't call this a coincidence."

Elsa bit her lip and she mulled over the idea. After a bit she nodded. "I agree. We should definitely proceed with caution until we have more details."

"Yeah, well I vote we get out of here. This place is giving me the creeps." I said as I kept back a shiver.

"Don't move too quickly now." A thin, cackling voice echoed around us. It was sharp and strung-out, like someone had strained their vocal chords enough to make falsetto's jealous. It was like someone was skinning a cat with a violin. A really angry cat and a really dull violin. It grated in my ears and dripped with condescension. "You wouldn't want to trip and hurt yourself."

"And we're going to be doing all the hurting, right brother?" a second voice chimed in. Contrary to his brother, this one had the voice of a construction site. It was pitched, clamoring but deep. Every word was pounded out, each syllable another nail gun shot. He spoke slowly, but clearly as if he were trying to figure out what he was saying as it left his mouth.

"There's plenty of hurting to go around." I said, cracking my neck. "I take it that you two are the ones who run this fine establishment?"

The first voice laughed, a high pitch noise that shattered some poor window somewhere. "Of course. And we do not appreciate what you've been doing to our employees."

"You mean the vetala brother?" The slow one chimed in. "I was not aware that they were being paid."

I could practically see the forehead rub of frustration. "No you fool. It was an expre- gah, nevermind. Where was I?"

"You were about to tell me about the vetala." I said to our disembodied hosts. "So, that's what your minions are called, huh?"

"That is none of your concern girl!" The squeaky toy shrieked at me. "Now, are you going to surrender yourselves now and suffer a quick painful death, or will you prolong your suffering and suffer a slow painful death!"

"I prefer the second one." The slow voice rumbled in agreement. "There is much more time for fun with that one."

Elsa coughed at that last one. "I did not expect you to enjoy prolonging your own suffering. But considering how your brother sounds, every day must be suffering." I reached over and high fived her as the nails on the chalkboard continued.

"You two are insufferable! Very well, you choose a slow painful death by our hands!"

I laughed. "Seriously? You sound like such a cliché right now, it's hardly funny. But I'm laughing anyway. Though I can't tell if it's your lame lines, or your horrendously bad taste in interior design that amuse me."

The hallway began to shake. Colors on the walls swirled together and the plants withered and un-withered at random intervals. Elsa and I stepped closer together, weapons drawn, as the area began to morph and twist.

"Shut your mouth demon hunter! One more word and I shall make it your last!"

Elsa turned to me, meeting my eyes with a skeptical gaze. I shrugged, trying to ignore the sigh and pout over my shoulder. My partner just let out a sigh and patted my shoulder as she readied her sword.

"Your plants are tacky!" I shouted at the invisible voices. The ground rumbled beneath our feet in response. Cracks appeared in the walls and floor, and bits of plaster fell to the ground. "Totally worth it." I laughed as Elsa and I ran from the collapsing floor.

The tiled floor gave way as we ran through the hallways. Chunks of every random sizes were seemingly cut off from the edges and re-attaching themselves onto the wall. Every step we took the walls closed in on us, squeezing in on us like a craftsman's vice. The objects on the walls kept falling over and fusing to the floor before they reassembled onto the wall somewhere. I pushed Elsa ahead of me as we ran through the unending maze. Admittedly, things were starting to look a little worrisome.

"What's the plan?!" Elsa called out to me as we ran through an ever narrowing hall-way.

"Plan? Since when did I have a plan?" I replied.

"Are you telling me you intentionally aggravated them off without having something like a plan?"

"Yeah, that sounds just about right!"

"You're still completely insane!"

"Who's the one who let me do it anyway?!" I laughed as we kept running. The walls were touching my shoulders at this point. "Okay, I have a plan!"

"What?!"

I leaned forward, grasping Elsa's shoulder with my hand. "Brace yourself!" My free hand went into my jacket, pulling out Summerglow in all its crimson fury. I stomped my heel into the ground and thrust my sword into the wall. The momentum carried the sword through the concrete with a great deal of static resistance. Sparks crackled, half of them falling into the void that was encroaching upon my feet.

I grunted, pushing my sword in deeper and dragging it in a lopsided circle. The concrete resisted and sent out pulse after pulse of orange lightning, but summerglow is still the sharpest blade in existence. The floor was giving out under my right side by the time a lopsided circle was cut in. I kicked the wall in with my free foot and practically threw me and Elsa through the gap.

We tumbled past the wall into an old office room. I grabbed the broken circle of wall and threw it back towards the hole. It caught itself in the wall and sparked with energy as the surface tried to pull it inside. Sadly, circles don't fit properly in other circles and the movement fizzled out as the hole tried, in vain, to pull the piece back into the hallway.

I smirked and plopped onto the floor. "How'd ya like that, ya tacky jackass!" I shouted at the empty air with my fist raised in the air. A whole lot of silence answered me and I just shrugged my shoulders. "Well, looks like we're safe for now." I said, watching Elsa who was still twitching with adrenaline.

"Anna… Anna how did you know that this office was a safe place? In fact, how did you know there was an office here?" she asked.

I rubbed my chin in thought for a moment. "I had no idea." I said after thinking. I was met with a blank stare and a slightly agape mouth. "What?"

"You said you had a plan."

"Yeah, I did. It was Operation: 'Get the Hell Away From the Collapsing Floor.' The name's a work in progress though."

Elsa's mouth opened and closed for a little bit. It was kinda like looking at a fish, just a lot less scaley, not underwater and pretty adorable. Okay, maybe not like a fish at all. But I still kinda just sat there looking at her try and find words to describe my idiocy. In about thirty seconds she'd probably remember how to use words again.

"Unbelievable." Ah, there it was. "I can't believe… Have you still not learned how to properly plan out anything? I mean, have you never had a situation that necessitated a plan?"

I tapped my chin as I pondered that. Smiling I shrugged. "I guess so. You'd be surprised at how versatile of a solution violence is. You were always the methodical one Elsa."

She huffed, looking away from me. "It's only because somebody had to keep you from getting yourself killed."

"Hey, it takes a lot to kill an angel, even a fallen one. Besides, they always worked out in the end, right?"

She turned to me and gave me a small smile. Stepping towards me, she spun on her heels and sat down next to me on the floor. "Yes, well. I suppose your particular brand of recklessness tends to have good results. Sometimes." Her smile was a full blown grin by the time she faced me.

I stuck my tongue out at her and leaned against whatever piece of dusty furniture was behind me. "Yeah yeah. Focus on catching your breath. How're you doing anyway, after the whole 'almost dying to vetala' thing."

"I believe I am… almost at full capacity. I suppose now would be a good time to make sure everything is working."

I nodded and Elsa held her hand over her heart and took a deep breath. I mirrored her and felt the gentle pulse of my heart, easing itself into its relaxed state. Next to it I could feel a different pulse. It was warm and tingled at my fingers. I breathed and it radiated hotter before thumping out some more pulses. I hadn't felt that in ages, so I let my hand stay over the spot as the warm energy core thumped along with my heart beat.

Angels have two hearts. Well, when we're in physical form. We have a normal blood and body kinda heart like the rest of you mortals. It pumps the way you'd expect, only that it seems to be immune to clogging from thirty years' worth of pizza. It ties us down to our mortality, our humanity while we're in this kind of state. It's a warm and reassuring feeling, and if I close my eyes I can pretend that I'm just as human as Kristoff or Weasel Boy.

The second heart is our angel heart. It's not a physical organ, more of a spiritual one. Humans would call it a soul, but that's not exactly right. Unless they want to believe that most of them don't have souls, which I'd wager to be true but that's a completely different subject. It's the core of what makes us who we are. Our cores decided from our creation how we can shape the elements, our strengths, weaknesses, and what we are at a base level. Elsa's has always been a shining white with a light blue glaze; a piece as beautiful and sturdy as the person who wields it.

My core was dark, tinged with bits of light but engulfed in flames. I smiled as I felt the warm throb. It used to be brighter, brighter than Elsa's even. But that's a long time ago, and now was not the time to be reminiscing.

Elsa's breaths were slow and contained. Her eyes were closed and a gentle glow surrounded her. I smiled and slouched to get a better view. Her expression was completely relaxed, the stress lines had completely disappeared from her face. If she wasn't glowing from the magical energy, she would still be the most radiant thing in this entire building, Hell probably the entire city. I guess it could be kinda creepy to admit that I just sat here staring at Elsa, but if you were here, you would definitely stare too.

* * *

 

After an eternity she stirred, brow scrunching a little as she wrinkled her nose. Well it was probably more like ten minutes. Internal system configuration takes a little while.. Her eyes lazily opened after, unfocused but they drifted towards me. She smiled a kinda dopey smile as her hand dropped to her side.

"I… I am sorry that I had to do that in the middle of enemy lines."

I shrugged, looking back at the hole in the wall. "It's fine. I've been watching the hole the entire time." Lies. "I'm almost disappointed that nothing happened. Makes me worry that those two bozos are planning something."

Elsa nodded as she rolled her shoulder. "Eugh, that feels unusual. Were all your joints this stiff when you adjusted yourself?"

I shrugged as I stood. "Stiff joints were the last thing on my mind when I got here. You think you're going to fall over in the middle of a fight again?"

She shook her head and started to stand. I helped her up, feeling the slight static as we touched. My body warmed as she grasped my hands, pulling on me to get to her feet. She stood quickly but stumbled at the end. I caught her. "Hey, easy easy. Geez, this is why you should've rested. You've been here for less than two days and you've already made yourself take on half an army."

Elsa shook her head and stood up. I moved to help her, but she gently pushed down my hands as I went to help her. "Anna, please. I am fine." She looked me in the eyes and I saw not a hint of weakness that her body had shown. All there was was a fire in her eyes that dared me to try and make her rest again. I sighed in defeat, knowing that I had no chance to make her rest anymore, and retreat wasn't exactly an option at this point anyway.

"Okay Elsa, but the second anything goes wrong, you let me know."

She nodded and walked around the office. I took a good look for the first time, since I didn't have anything else attracting my attention. The office was old, furniture looking like it was from the fifties'. It was also small, probably only three or four proper desks, maybe a handful of fliers. It was probably only for the few guys who ran the warehouse, whenever that was. The chairs had cobwebs dangling off them, the walls separating the cubicles had half of their paint chipped off. The lights dangled from the ceiling, still illuminating us in a slight glow despite hanging on by literal threads. I walked around, unsettling dust as I ran my hand over the various papers and files that were left from the last day's work. I even found a rotting cup of coffee in the corner. I imagined how it must have felt. The panic, fear and anxiety as the crowds herded themselves through the streets, panicking as the city was engulfed in horror.

I shuddered at the thought, throwing them in the back of my head with the rest of the unmentionable garbage. I shook my head as I walked back to where Elsa was. Elsa was still in the middle of the office, eyes closed in focus. She looked at me and exhaled a sigh. "This area does not appear to have anything special. It is just an ordinary working space." She motioned to the side of the room with a door that I had just noticed. "However, I did detect something in there. Someone possibly."

"And by something do you mean the someone you saw before?"

She nodded her head as she drew her sword. "It is...different than what I saw. But the differences are minor, most likely due to the warped dimension that hallway was. Shall we proceed?"

I nodded, drawing my own sword. Together the two of us walked to the other side of the office to the non-descript grey door that blended in with the wall. Elsa reached out first to the handle. It jiggled a little but remained firmly stuck. She groaned as she continued to try the handle to no avail.

"Here, try this." I said, gently nudging her to the side. I brought my hand up and brought it down onto the handle with all my strength. The metal popped off and plopped to the floor. I almost pumped my fist but Elsa gave me one of those exasperated looks that shut me up.

The door was ajar now, so Elsa and I gave it a gentle pull and it swung open. The first thing that hit us was the scent. Something had died in that closet. No, many things died in there and they have been dead for a long time. The scent almost peeled the skin off my arms and made my hair stand on end. After the initial shock I noticed the bodies that lined the walls. Slumped on the ground, they lay with mouths agape and eyes staring at something that only they could see.

In the center of the room there was a figure, crouched and shivering. It looked like a giant shaking cotton ball, but that could just be because of the white hoodie it appeared to be wearing. I stepped into the room slowly, minding not to make too much noise. As I got closer I could hear gasping and broken sniffling. Taking a deep breath I reached out and gently touched the person's shoulder.

She whirled around and I looked into bright green eyes, wide with panic. She shuffled away from me, breathing fast enough that I swore she was going to pass out. "Hey, hey. Easy." I said, voice level. "It's alright, you're safe. I'm not going to hurt you." It felt like I was talking to a scared hamster. The way she curled herself against the wall as she shuddered did not help that case.

"Anna, who is it?" Elsa asked as she walked up next to me. She looked over my shoulder to the girl cowering from us. Squinting she leaned in closer. "Wait… I have seen you before. You… you are Marielle, yes?"

The girl looked up at Elsa's voice as she chewed on her sleeve. I was scratching my head. Marielle… why does that name seem familia- "You're the girl from the park earlier." I said more to myself than to her.

She was still breathing heavy, but it was much more relaxed, and she looked a lot less likely to pop a blood vessel at this point. There was a seeming moment of clarity as she looked between Elsa and I, like she almost recognized our faces. Elsa's voice must have triggered something in her, so I gently shoved her with my elbow. She looked at me, nodded and tried again.

"You're Marielle, correct? We met earlier in the park. You told us about your family… you mentioned love." Elsa scrunched her face as she tried remembering details.

"Y-you two…" she stammered out, the shaking still present but much better. "I-I'm glad that the protection… that you two managed to make it safe…" she was still hugging her legs as close to her chest as possible, but she seemed to remember something now.

I smiled and stepped closer to her. She didn't try to scoot away. "Yeah, I think your blessing really helped. Here, let me help you up." I extended my hand and she looked at it like it was a poisonous snake. Slowly she extended her hand towards me, grasping at my fingers as if she were made of glass. My fingers folded into the grasp and gently pulled her up. She stood, stumbling as she tried to stand. She slipped, falling forward before I caught her. "Hey, hey. Easy, you're okay." I said, gently stroking the head that rested on my chest. "I got ya, I got ya."

Elsa let out a loud cough and gently pushed Marielle off of my, holding her back with her arm. "There you are. Now, can you tell us what you are doing here?"

Marielle looked between us confused as she flapped her lips uselessly. "I… I don't…" she said with a deep breath. "I… I don't re… I'm sorry."

I pulled her into a hug. "Hey, hey. It's can tell us later. We just need to get you somewhere safe for now, okay?"

She sniffled and nodded her head. "T-thank you." she stuttered again, holding onto me.

Elsa coughed louder than usual and I turned to see her with her arms crossed. "Anna, we should find somewhere safe to put her."

I wave her off with one of my free hands. Something's really putting Elsa in a bad mood for some reason, but I'll talk to her about it later. Civilians come first. "How about the office? You said there was nothing weird with that place, right?"

"Yes." She said not looking at us. "Considering that we've been safe so far, she should be safe, if not only for a little bit. We should still make haste to eliminate the ones in charge, let something comes after her."

Marielle was looking between us, eyes in a panic. "Y-you can't be serious. I-I can't be left alone here!"

I patted her on the back as gently as I could. She winced, but relaxed at my touch. "Look, we're going to be quick. Until then, take this." I reached into my cloak and pulled out Marshmallow. "He's a little heavy, but he can protect you from anything that comes by. Just remember, you only have about six shots, so make them count."

She took my gun with trembling fingers. "Y-you can't be… don't you need this?"

I smirked and snapped my fingers. "I already have the greatest weapon of all, right here." I said, patting my head. "I'm invincible as long as I've got my wits, my fists and a few pieces of chocolate in my system."

She nodded, but her hands were shaking around the handle of the gun. "Hey, hey. You got this. All you have to do is wait for us to get back, right?" She swallowed and nodded. "And you managed to survive until now, right? So sitting in an office should be easy right?" My mind flashed back to the room full of bodies, and a shiver crawled down my spine. Marielle squeezed my gun tighter and smiled at me, nodding her head. "Good. Now just wait here. We'll be back in a little bit after we kick some demon ass."

She gave me a small salute and went to sit in one of the old decrepit chairs in the office. I walked over to Elsa's side. She looked at me and smirked. "That was quite a display of bravado there, Anna." She whispered.

"Hey, I meant every word of it. You should see what I can do in a fight when I'm really motivated."

"Well, you certainly managed to increase my morale as well. I actually believe that you have control of the situation."

I snorted as I pushed the debris through the hole in the wall. "Okay, if you believe that then I did way too good of a job."

* * *

 

We had just finished sealing the hole when our ears were assaulted. "Ahhh, there you are. I was wondering where my new favorite victims were." The noise snaked over me, sending chills to the pit of my stomach. It was the same tone as earlier, but this time it dripped with something other than contempt. I imagined it was how a hungry kid sounds like when he's talking in front of a large pizza. I did not enjoy empathizing with a pizza.

"Come out and fight us, coward!" Elsa yelled at the disembodied voice. "Are you that afraid that you have to resort to cheap tricks without even showing us your face?"

"Shut your mouth, woman!" the voice shrieked. "Do not think that you have the slightest right to speak to me like that. You are weak, useless and not even worth the privilege of being killed by my brother and I personally."

Elsa and I didn't flinch as it yelled at us, but something clicked in my head. "Well, thank God. I was scared that we were going to have to face you directly. I might have died from being exposed to your stupidity!"

"Hmph, are you really falling back onto petty insults? You truly are pathetic."

"Yeah, I figured I'd dumb it down so you could follow. Didn't want to leave you behind like last time." I said, leaning against the wall. It crackled against my back, but I ignored it as the voice began to sputter.

"Last time? Have you gone truly daft girl. You were at the mercy of me and my intellect."

"Yeah, we were really on the ropes. I almost fell asleep trying to come up with a suitable response. Would've been a real hazard if I fell head-first onto one of these ugly desks that you have jutting out of the wall." The hall began to shake and I smiled to myself. "In fact, go for it. Kill us without even seeing us. It's perfect for someone like you who can't even figure out how to draw a straight line." The wall in front of me was shaking more violently, and I could see cracks of light forming along it's length. "In fact, I think I'm glad I won't have to see your face. I would have a hard time keeping myself from laughing at your complete lack of talent!"

The wall tore itself open with a roar and a blinding flash of light. I could make out a large imposing figure standing in the doorway with a smaller gnome-like one on it's back. The small one had lanky limbs that were easily twice the length of it's body, while the tall one was build with trees for appendages. Shrimp thrust his hand out, the length stretching through the hall, wrapping around my waist. I only had a moment to look to Elsa before I was dragged through the light. I kept my eyes on Elsa until the wall behind me slammed shut, leaving me alone with whatever these creatures were.


	8. Audacity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Violence is the best solution.

My teeth rattled as I was slammed against a wall. The long armed one kept a hand wrapped around me as he swung me around the room, thwacking me against every solid surface he could find. Slamming me on the ground, he pulled on the bigger one. His free hand was tightly grasped in the hand of his brother. Biggun lumbered over towards me, until he loomed over me in all his un-washed glory. I struggled against the fingers wrapped around me, wiggling one of my arms out of his grasp. He chuckled, leaning over to look me, eye to creepy bug-eye.

"Where's your big mouth now, girl?" He hissed. "Go on, make another snappy comeback." His fingers squeezed around me and i felt the air evacuate my lungs. "Go on! Do it!"

The fire in my chest roared in response, and I felt the energy surging through my body. My vision started to tint red as I felt the energy gather in my arm. "The next thing you're going to say…" I wheezed, looking at him dead on. "Is 'auuugh, you bitch!'" I clenched my fist and swung at him, flames gathering around my skin. The fires shot off and flew straight across his face, searing his left eye.

"Auuugh, you bitch!" He screamed as he let go, bringing his hand to the fresh burn. I rolled away as the big one tried to grab me, jumping to my feet. He panted, glaring at me with his good eye. "That… what was hellfire. How did you summon hellfire?" he spat at me.

I looked down at my left arm, still burning with bright orange flame. The skin from my elbow down was pitch black, tapering up towards my still normal upperarm. I flexed my fingers, watching as the flames danced between the now sharp appendages. How long has it been since I've properly used this? It was nostalgic in a horrible kind of way. I smirked and drew Summerglow with my other hand.

"You… The sheer audacity." He wheezed, glaring at me with palpable rage. "I will make your death, slow. Painful. And incredibly violent."

His brother smile. "Good for you, girl. I happen to enjoy incredible violence."

I flexed my fingers, looking at the swirling flames. As I focused, several of the little lights focused around my middle finger. Smirking I flipped the bird at them, sending a small shot of flame across the big one's cheek. He looked down, sniffed and glared at me. Then he let out a guttural roar and charged at me headfirst.

I ran towards him, sliding between his legs as he swiped at me. As I slid through I slashed across his calf, bringing a pained scream to his lips. I ground my heel into the ground and bent my knee as I slid. I jumped, my momentum throwing me out of reach of another ham-fisted blow. He dug into the ground, throwing a toddler-sized chunk of tile at me. I swept Summerglow at it, cutting the rubble into even halves that flew past me.

Midget reached out with his free arm, revealing a set of stiletto nails. I barely twisted as the nails grazed my side. The force stabbed his hand through the wall behind me, before he pulled it out, rearing back for another strike. I touched ground and immediately ducked under another strike, then slid to the side, dodging another punch from the big one.

Watching them I waited as the small one readied another thrust at me. His hand speared through the air, glistening with power. I tilted to the side, feeling the hand barely scrape against my face. As it passed, I grabbed the arm with my demon hand. He screamed as I seared his flesh. Pale skin turned charcoal black, smelling like burning eggshells. In a panic, he pulled his arm back as fast as he could, bringing me along with him. I thrust my sword forward as he pulled, impaling him on my broadsword before I flipped over him.

As soon as I landed on the ground a chunky arm grabbed me. The big one pulled me to his face, squeezing me as his brother writhed in agony, burning blade still protruding from his chest. I drew my breath and willed my arm to blaze hotter, forcing his grip open. As I fell, he screamed, shaking his hand. Before he could react, I dashed forward, thrusting my hand claws-first into the area where his heart should be. He hitched, sputtered out some blood, and wheezed, clutching at his chest.

I backed off, watching the scene unfold. The two brothers were howling to the sky; one clawing at the blade sunk through his sternum, the other grasping at his heart while blood spewed out of his mouth. They firmly held hands as the larger one fell to the ground with an earth shaking thud. After a few moments of twitching and burning, the bodies fell still.

"Well, that was anti-climatic." I muttered, walking over to reclaim my sword. "I almost wish they lasted longer." I reached over the pale body, grasping at the handle to my sword, trying to think of a way to get back to Elsa.

A pale hand shot forward, grabbing my human wrist. A beefy one grabbed my ankle. I yelped, trying to pry myself from their clutches.

The two chanted in unison. I couldn't tell what they were speaking, I just knew it wasn't English or Latin. Power swirled around them, then flowed into their bodies. I could feel the static run through me the longer they chanted. My vision blurred, and every cell in my body began to tingle until it was a massive scream in unison. It was like my skin was being pulled from my body, then my flesh, every nerve and all my blood. Eventually an explosion of white happened between my eyes and I was torn asunder.

* * *

_It's bright and warm. I open my eyes and look around. My face is in a pile of clouds, engulfing around me like a warm blanket of puppies. Flipping over I look to the sky. It's bright and pure, without a single impurity. Across the scene I see images begin to cycle. Standing up, I see the beginning of time, explode before my eyes. The creation of the heavens play out before me, while the creation of every deity in history followed after._

_I tilt my head, watching the beginning of every angel in history, until a small one with red hair trips and falls into existence. She almost looks familiar, and the screen almost seems to zoom in on her._

" _It's us." a voice behind me whispers. "Don't you remember?"I shiver, the voice bringing back something in my head._

_A pair of hands cover my eyes. "N-uh. You don't get to see any more. That slideshow is reserved for when you die. You have a lot more slides to add before you get to watch." my voice said behind me. "Focus on getting to see me again. And then we'll talk. It's been too long, my body. So hurry up." She giggles, a sound reminiscent of an angelic chime ringing through my ears._

_Suddenly a pressure appears on my chest and I feel the strings of mortality pulling on me. The hands are removed from my eyes and I turn my head to face her. I smile, standing there in a perfectly clean angel robe. She spreads her small sparrow wings, as she waves me goodbye. Her white hair blows in the wind, all except for the streak of red that just stayed in place._

* * *

My eyes snapped open as consciousness returned to me. I glanced around the room, mind running at a thousand miles per hour. I saw Summerglow, lying on the ground in the far corner. In the other side of my vision I could see two silhouettes beating on another silhouette.

I pushed myself to my knees, noticing that both my hands were obsidian black. The color ran along my arms in veins that traced up around my collar bone. They came down to my chest, forming a cross down to my navel. I touched my cheek, feeling a slight sizzle. My shoulder blades ached, and I reached back with my hand. There was a stub on each one that pulsed with pain every time I touched it. Breathing slower, I stood up.

The two in the corner stopped when they heard me stand. Slowly they turned, eyes wide for both of them. "Y-you… How did this." the small one squeaked.

"B-brother. The incantation is supposed… to separate the mind and the body. Correct?" The bigger one said, dropping his victim. On closer inspection, it was me. Er my...body? I guess it was my body, seeing as it just layed on the ground, wide eyes and mouth agape. It's chest still rose and fell gently, bringing a relaxed sigh from me.

I looked back from my body to the two who were now cowering in the corner. I took a step forward, leaving a smoldering footprint in my wake. The big one grabbed a chunk of wall and hurled it to me. I backhanded it, my arm burning it to ash instantly. He lobbed another piece and I grabbed it. I breathed in and watched the concrete disintegrate in a puff of smoke.

"What the… What are you?" the small one asked, not even bothering to move at me. "You're not- Humans don't do that. Humans go insane, they. Their consciences don't manifest into that!"

I smiled, running a hand through my hair. "I guess.. that means I'm not human. Fancy that, huh?" Blowing into my other hand, a ball of fire spun into existence. From a small wisp, it quickly grew into a fireball. I flung it towards them, watching it rocket into the big one's chest. He wheezed, more blood spewing from his chest as smoke flowed from the gaping wound.

I dashed over, hands spread to the side. Swiping my right, I cut through the air, leaving gashes on the walls as I cut across the brothers. They screamed again, clutching at gaping wounds. I watched as the wounds sizzled and closed in a matter of seconds.

"So… you two don't die." I said with a smile. "I guess…" I flicked a claw, watching blood evaporate into red mist. "I'm going to have to keep killing you till you stay that way."

The two of them looked at each other and nodded their heads. Simultaneously, they charged me, both reaching a free hand at me. I dodged out of the way, raking a hand across the big one's jugular. Spinning on my heel, I swung a spinning back kick into the small one's face. He buckled, but reached a hand out towards me. I hopped back, but the hand barely managed to graze me. I looked over and saw that the big one had a hand on my body.

They screamed in that foreign language again and I felt myself being sucked towards my body. It was like someone turned a vacuum and a giant fan on at the same time, and I quickly lost footing. I fell towards my body and my eyes exploded in a flash of light again.

* * *

Instantly I came to and breathed in a huge breath. Coughing, I rolled away from the two demons who had retreated in shock. I eyed them before I looked down at my hands. Pale pearly whites with some freckles along the veins. I smiled, before I took a deep breath and focused on the dark power I had tapped into. My left hand responded as before, but the rest of my body stayed human as usual. Grunting, I stood up and almost fell as the pain kicked in. Ouch, my body hurt like hell.

The two moron siblings looked at me and I could feel the confidence come back to their faces. "Now… now you're just human again." the small one said with a cackle. "Now, you are nothing."

I looked at him, then laughed. On the floor, Summerglow rested. I bent down and picked her up. "No. I'm not 'just' human. I'm a human right now, who's going to kick your ass!" I said, pointing my sword at them. Granted I had no idea how to kill something that refused to die, but I was sure I'd figure out something.

Almost on cue, the wall behind me exploded. I stumbled as a wave of energy washed over me. Turning, I saw the cause of the explosion. Elsa stood in the remains of the wall, panting heavily. Her arms were bleeding, and her clothes were torn up. From her back protruded six large muscular arms all made out of solid ice. Each held a large chunk of concrete in their hands which they promptly crushed into fine powder.

"Where. Is. Anna?" she spat out, looking across the room. She looked up and stared at me in shock. I felt her eyes roll over my probably bruised limbs and cut cheek. Rage engulfed her shock, and she hurled herself at the two.

"Elsa?!" I called out as she dashed past me. The large brother reared back, then threw a massive punch at her. She pulled her arm back, and the ice limbs did the same. Then she thrust them forward, fists colliding, making a massive shockwave that pushed me back. Looking up I saw the two going at it. Elsa, weaving and dodging, threw punch after punch at the behemoth who met each strike with equal brute force. They stood dead even, exchanging titanic blow after blow, until one of Elsa's fists began to crack.

I immediately jumped forward as the large one raised another fist. He swung down and Elsa matched his blow. A jet of fire exploded from my hand, engulfing Elsa's ice fist. It connected, the flames searing his hand as Elsa pushed forward. He attempted to pull back, but Elsa pushed forward, landing a piercing blow on his chest.

The giant groaned while his brother lept up, swiping down at us from above. Elsa dodged backwards, a claw barely glancing against her braid. I swiped forward, my claw reaching his. The two connected with a clash, and then a searing sound as my claws raked across his flesh. He hissed and continued, wrapping his freakish arm around me again.

Elsa smashed down on his arm with all her fists, shattering most of them in the process. Small one screamed again, pulling back. I ran over to Elsa and pulled her to the side, before another huge fist almost hit us. Turning I splashed a fireball in his face, bringing a monstrous scream of pain as he stumbled into a wall. Turning to Elsa I grabbed her by the hand and ran to the closest wall.

I looked at her, exhaustion settling in. "Alright, game plan. They don't die." I said, panting. She looked at me a bit wide-eyed and then nodded. "Got any idea how to kill them?"

She looked over at the two, tall one stumbling in pain and the small one trying to put out the fire. "Maybe we could seal them?" Elsa said.

"No, I doubt that'll break their hold over this place. We need to make sure they're gone."

Elsa pondered, looking over at the two of them. "They're only using one hand each…" she mumbled.

I tilted my head. "Yeah? They've been doing that the whole fight."

"No. I… Anna!" She suddenly shouted, making me flinch. "Separate their hands! That must be the secret."

"What. Where the heck are you getting that from?"

"The whole time I was exchanging blows with them. The large one only used one arm, even though it left him open and at a huge disadvantage. Why else would they limit themselves in a life or death battle?"

I blinked, then nodded. "Alright. How do we do that?"

"Well, I sugg- Anna watch out!" she called out as the long hand wrapped around me again.

"Sonuva-" I shouted as I was yanked for the God knows how many'd time. I leaned toward my attacker as he pulled me. Sticking out my leg, I drove my heel into his face, forcing his grip to loosen. Flipping over him, I fell to the side where their hands were conjoined. Smiling, I grabbed the small wrist with my burning hand. He screamed and the fingers flinched open for a second. A second long enough that is, for me to yank him down to my level.

For the first time in the fight, the small one tumbled down on top of me, away from his big younger brother. The brother in question swept his arm down at me, but was stopped by a spear of ice that shot out the ground. Elsa lifted her hands from the ground, jumping at him a frozen aura around her hands. She yelled and the energy solidified into a crystal-blue long sword, the same she used back when we worked together.

She swiped up, cleaving at the arm, driving a long gash along the giant's arm. Not to be undone, I kicked at the body on top of me that quickly tried to scurry away. Stomping on his arm, I brought my sword up and drove it through his chest. He screamed as steel penetrated through him to the floor. Thrashing like a fish, he desperately reached out to his brother who could only look on due to Elsa pinning his foot to the ground with her sword. The big one screamed. "Koka!" He swiped Elsa away and charged towards me.

I moved to run, but he jumped onto me, pinning me to the ground. He straddled me, one hand on my throat, the other in the air. He glared me down, murder in his eyes. "How dare you kill my brother! We were invincible as long as we were together!"

I panted, heartbeat racing in my ears. "W-well. I'm sorry he's not here to hold your hand anymore. Too bad, he was," I choked a little as his grip on me started to crack my ribcage. "He couldn't take a punch to save his life. With-without you that is." I coughed, blood beginning to pool in my mouth.

His eyes narrowed. "No. And I doubt you can take one either." He said, bringing his fist down to me.

"Azazel!" Elsa cried as she dove towards the fist. I saw a flash of white as she plowed into his arm, clinging to forearm as he tried to shake her off. My chest began to beat in resonance with the name she called. Something in me stirred. My breathing got ragged as my body began to shake. Aether coursed through my veins, and I began to see everything in double.

It started as a groan, but it left my throat as a loud roar. The giant looked down to me as I began to push his weight off of me. First one hand, then two pushed against the hand on my throat, slowly lifting the hulking mass off of me. He panicked, pushing down on me, as hard as possible, but to no avail. He shook his other arm as hard as possible until Elsa fell off. Eyes wide in panic, he tried to slam the other hand down on me. It stopped in mid-air by my other hand. Now matching the behemoth in strength, I sat up, taking in each breath as my ribs immediately healed.

The big one was panicking, trying to pull away from my grip. Smiling I twisted, slamming him into the wall nearest me. Then I lifted him, slamming him onto the ground. Spinning on my heels, I threw him into the wall once more. An earth-splitting crack and a pitiful whimper later, he slumped to the ground, barely conscious.

I turned, holding my hand out to my blade. My hand was fluxxing now, flashing between white and fluorescent white. The blade flew to me, and glowing with a holy brilliance as it touched my skin. Turning to the beast, I slowly walked towards him, dragging the tip of my blade against the ground.

I looked at him as I raised my blade. "Tell me, what was your aim." I said in a voice that was not quite mine.

He looked at me and laughed. "I… we. We only followed orders. That is all we knew. The master, he…" he coughed. "he never told us why, and I never… questioned it."

I glared down at him and pointed my sword at his heart. "Is that all you know?" he nodded solemnly, then coughed up more blood. "Any last words while you still breathe this realm's air?" I asked, pushed the tip on his sternum.

He looked up at me, wheezing through broken ribs and bleeding lungs. "You… First h-human. Then a fallen. Now an.. an angel. What are you?" he asked, light fading from his eyes.

I looked down on him and pulled back my sword. "I am all of those things. I was one of the first, and one of the last of my kind. And I beat you." I said, thrusting my blade through his chest. He convulsed, then light and white fire began to erupt from his body. It only took a moment before only a pile of ashes remained where the giant once was.

The building resonated with his death. With its masters gone, the magic quickly began to dissipate. Steel and concrete screamed and bent as they re-organized themselves into some sense of normalcy. I watched the area we were fighting in morph back into a relatively normal looking warehouse with a few boxes to the side.

Dropping my sword, I staggered back. I, Aza- Anna. No, Azazel. I- I coughed and looked at my hands. They were beginning to warp and fade. My physical existence was becoming undone. My senses were starting to vanish as my body started to disappear.

Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped around me. "No! Anna, no! Fight it!" Es- Elsa. Elsa. Elsa's voice rang through my ears. I looked at the girl, holding onto me, channeling as much energy into me as possible.

My head started to swirl as I began to breathe harder. Elsa. Elsa is my, partner. We were a- We are demon hunters right now. She's a fallen, and I. I am Anna. I am Anna now.

The last sentence rang a chord through me as I thought it. The tremors began to stop as I repeated that to myself again, and again. The energy retreated back inside me as Elsa held me close. Gathering my strength, I reached around and grabbed her back. My vision began to readjust, the glow of divinity no longer clouding my eyes. I could see her again.

Elsa, the girl who was clutching at my chest, eyes shut in focus. Elsa, who was chanting my name over and over again. Elsa the girl who's back was shaking as I started to rub it. Her eyes snapped open and she looked up at me, wide-eyed and scared.

"A-anna?" she said, voice scared.

I smiled to the best I could. "Yup that's me." I said with a small laugh at the end. "And that, is why we don't use our real names." I said to the girl who slowly started to stand straight back up. She looked at me and I looked back, and we just stood there in silence.

I coughed and glanced to the side. "Hey, did you forget your line? You're supposed to be talking here." I whispered at her.

She blinked at me, confused. The longer she looked at me and the smile on my face, she started to smile herself. The smile grew till small giggles began to form. They were contagious, as I started giggling myself when I saw her start. We stood there, giggles floating between us until they erupted into full blown laughter. We laughed, holding onto each other, laughing at pretty much everything. Everything that just happened just hit us and we laughed harder, holding onto each other as the laughter rolled over us.

I slowed in my laughing and opened my eyes. I gazed upon the angel, the one who apparently tore open a wall because she was worried about me. Her features softened as she laughed, lips resting in a gentle smile as she stopped. We stared at each other for a while, just letting silence rest easy between us.

I ventured to open my mouth first. "We won." I said, barely keeping the smile contained. "We did it, first boss down!" I said with more conviction. Elsa smiled and hugged me closer. "Hah! We're alive!" I cried out as I squeezed Elsa again.

She just nodded, holding me close as I started my own miniature celebration in her arms. Was it childish? Definitely. But considering what we just went through, I couldn't care less how badly I embarrassed myself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I like writing fight scenes. It's fun. I'm sorry if I threw too many questions at once. I swear though, any questions you have will be answered. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I did. Next time, we try to figure what's going on! Until then leave a review if you have anything you want to say, and I will see you guys later!


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